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For my final mailing of 2023, I sent out my Top Essays of 2023 and revisited my Predictions for 2023.

While watching "Maestro" on Netflix, I thought of an uncomfortable question for Hollywood in 2024: In the age of YouTube, why did this movie *need* to be made? 

There are plenty of clips of Leonard Bernstein on YouTube, whether interviews, recordings of his concerts or behind-the-scenes of his rehearsals. YouTube’s search engine makes it easy to go down the rabbit holes of who Bernstein was or how he conducted an orchestra (I enjoyed this behind-the-scenes clip of Bernstein conducting “Cha Cha” from “West Side Story”). 

On the other hand, YouTube clips do not tell the story of Bernstein's private life with his children or his complicated marriage to Felicia Montealegre. “Maestro” imagines what it meant for Montealegre to be married to a musical genius who was also a closeted bisexual. Bernstein never openly discussed his sexuality in ways that celebrities now discuss their sexuality with the public. It was a topic the culturally conservative media of the late 20th century simply did not touch around powerful American cultural figures like Bernstein. So, there is no video content on the subject, and YouTube does not have any of the “behind-the-scenes” stories that “Maestro” re-imagines.

"Maestro" sits uncomfortably in between the symbiotic relationship between YouTube and Netflix: The two platforms dominate streaming consumption—especially on U.S. TVs as per Nielsen’s The Gauge. Before "Maestro", few (if any) were searching for the original clip of the Ely Cathedral concert.  Now, worldwide searches for "Ely Cathedral" and "Felicia Montealegre" on Google Trends are spiking. Notably, YouTube Searches for both topics also trend up but with varying dips in interest for each. Searches for “Leonard Bernstein” on Google and YouTube also have benefitted from a spike in interest. The available data tells a story that Netflix users go off-platform to YouTube after watching “Maestro” to consume more clips (I certainly did so myself). 

Key Takeaway

Netflix may regret how “Maestro” unintentionally exposes the weakness in its roadmap as it pivots into advertising.

Total words: 800

Total time reading: 3 minutes