Netflix Acquires Warner Bros., Partners with OpenAI and Disney ---- The Divergence Between Old and New Media Strategies in the AI Era Two major news stories in the past two days: One is Netflix's attempt to acquire Warner Bros.; The other is the collaboration between OpenAI and Disney, integrating IP into an AI interactive system. In the long run, these two events are essentially competing for the same thing: user attention. However, they are taking completely different paths. The logic behind Netflix-style acquisitions is to capture more user time through a larger content library, stronger IP, and higher concentration. This is the standard answer in the streaming era. But the problem is also obvious: User time is limited, while content costs are rigid. Moreover, when user growth slows and the competition for time becomes a zero-sum game, continuing to expand the scale of content is essentially just pushing the old path to its limit. The collaboration between OpenAI and Disney doesn't seem like a traditional "media partnership." Because it's not about buying or distributing content, but about putting IP into a new interactive system. In this structure: Disney provides the worldview, characters, and emotional assets. OpenAI determines when, in what form, and within the user's interaction these elements appear. They are not competing with streaming companies for users' viewing time, but rather creating new, end-to-end media experiences. The contrast between the two paths is clear: Traditional media addresses what users watch. New media addresses what users think and do. New media's competition for user attention is end-to-end: Dialogue Thinking Before decision-making During action (watching/interacting/co-creating streaming) Traditional media is limited to the final step. In AI-driven new media, content is no longer the endpoint, but merely a module to be invoked. Content companies are becoming more like suppliers of materials and worldviews. New platforms are beginning to determine how content participates in users' daily thinking and interactions. Passive, didactic entertainment is giving way to interactive, participatory entertainment. Entertainment is shifting from "content consumption" to "relationships and experiences with content." This is precisely where the true long-term value of AI × IP lies. In this structure, it's virtually impossible for new OpenAI startups to replicate Netflix's path. The only viable direction follows a core principle: Don't try to seize existing entry points, but rather embed yourself into a step users can't avoid, creating a new entry point. Especially in entertainment-related fields: Participatory rather than platform-based; fragmented rather than long-term; possessing personality, memorability, and connection; or integrated with functionality, becoming a lubricant rather than the end itself. Opportunities lie in those less grandiose but sufficiently specific fragments of attention. Netflix's acquisition of Warner Bros. was about using content scale to perpetuate the old logic of attention; OpenAI's collaboration with Disney is an attempt to rewrite the rules of attention entry points. The AI era isn't truly changing the form of content, but rather who decides how content appears in users' lives, or how users participate in content. Also, I've created a Telegram US stock discussion group; the QR code is in the upcoming post.

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