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lightsongtheold t1_iqo0a3w wrote

The Sandman would never have been made on any other service. Rumours have it costing over $160 million for the first season! It was a hit show but it really needed to be a mega hit rather than a show that just did slightly better than Keep Breathing, Anatomy of a Scandal, and Never Have I Ever.

It probably will get renewed as long as they can get the budget down for a second season.

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Asiriya t1_iqoay0n wrote

What a fucking waste of money

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Mentoman72 t1_iqof25b wrote

I'm burnt out on a lot of huge budget stuff currently. Aside from HOTD I'm not watching any of the massively budgeted shows currently coming out. Maybe I just prefer smaller scaled stories.

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Radulno t1_iqq0yev wrote

The only ones I can see are Amazon or Apple because they can burn money without a problem due to their business model (their services have no intention to be profitable on themselves)

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lightsongtheold t1_iqr9f5h wrote

Netflix is actually profitable nowadays. That is significant because it has an ARPU about twice as high as Amazon Prime but Prime has a content budget less than half of that of Netflix. My guess is that is enough to make Prime very close to break even levels.

No doubt Apple are losing a ton of cash. They spend almost as much as Amazon on the service, charge a lot less, and have practically no subscribers. They do have the cash to lose money for a while and continue to build the service at a time when others are struggling with sluggish growth and economic tailwinds.

You might be right that either of those streamers might have been an alternative home for The Sandman but I’m not sure Amazon would have given $160 million to an IP as obscure as The Sandman. They do spend big but usually only on IP or top tier creatives. Apple probably would have though as they do spend top dollar on completely original IP or more obscure IP like The Sandman.

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