Wired: Consumers are Officially Overwhelmed by their Streaming Video Options. Whoops!

By: Angela Watercutter

Originally posted here, November 7, 2019

M. Night Shyamalan’s Apple TV+ Show Servant Has a Trailer

Greetings! Welcome to a new edition of The Monitor, WIRED’s culture news roundup. Lots of headlines from the frontlines of the streaming wars today. Also, Robert Rodriguez and Ben Affleck are teaming up. Who knew?

And the hits just keep on comin’! Apple’s TV+ might have already launched earlier this month, but it’s still rolling out its slate of shows. Next up: a new trailer for M. Night Shyamalan’s Servant. The series is about a Philadelphia couple that hires a nanny, and—you guessed it!—lets a dark, creepy presence into their home. (Do you expect anything less from Shyamalan?) The psychological thriller debuts on the streaming service on November 28.

Ben Affleck Is Going to Star in a Robert Rodriguez Movie

First off, Robert Rodriguez is working on a new movie. It’s an action thriller called Hypnotic, which the director also wrote. Second, he just cast Ben Affleck to star in the picture. According to Variety, the actor will play “a detective who becomes entangled in a mystery involving his missing daughter and a secret government program, while investigating a string of impossible high-end heists.” Huh! Cool!

Consumers Are Already Worried There Are Too Many Streaming Services

It seems as though the moment many had feared is here: Folks are starting to feel overwhelmed by the number of options when it comes to streaming video. Per a new survey from a viewer tracking service called TV Time and United Talent Agency’s data analysis outfit, IQ, some 70 percent of respondents say they believe there are too many streaming services to choose from. Also, fewer than half—42 percent—said they were planning on adding a new streaming service to what their household already has. This likely isn’t great news for Disney+, Apple TV+, or WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, all of which are in the process of joining the field already filled by Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. The streaming wars have only just begun.