Lessons from Entertainment’s Travails Under a Newer, Crueller Capitalism

If entertainment podcasts were to compete for the most mentions of “private equity”, Richard Osman and Marina Hyde’s The Rest is Entertainment would be the uncontested victor. Ostensibly a show about “what’s hot” in entertainment, it seems almost every week the hosts cannot help but launch into a discussion of the financial and political movements lurking beneath the surface. But why is a podcast about entertainment constantly talking about tax regimes and antitrust laws? 

The changes occurring in the entertainment industry speak to a broader trend across the entire economy, wherein commercial and state interests are converging, and the place of the public is being squeezed out. Certainly, partnerships between business leaders and politicians have always existed (look at Rupert Murdoch), but they are now stronger than ever and we have little to control them. 

This mutation has been driven by many factors. Not least by the country I write from – China – and its enormous growth achieved through coordination between state power and market forces. Also worth mentioning is the 2008 financial crash, how the low interest rates it precipitated tempted investment out of public markets and into the murkier world of private equity. More broadly, the rise of inequality since the eighties has concentrated wealth in a few hands, whilst catapulting their allies into political office on the back of a populist wave fuelled by that inequality. The result is an economy owned by powerful, politically backed companies competing on the global stage. 

Luckily, The Rest is Entertainment regularly provides some great case studies of this phenomenon. The main character in this story is the US, where President Donald Trump has turned the entertainment industry into a court of sycophancy and corruption. Perhaps the most egregious example is the Melania documentary, which some have described as a $40 million bribe with a film attached. Directed by Trump ally Brett Ratner and including a $28 million payment to Melania Trump herself, it could seem like Amazon is trying to secure Trump’s patronage and avoid the administration’s ire, which is frequently turned on recalcitrant companies. Another topic was the Paramount-Warner merger, where Paramount owner David Ellison, the son of a billionaire Trump ally, reportedly benefited from government pressure to secure the merger of two of America’s largest entertainment producers. This ‘consolidation’ is a key part of the transformation towards a more coordinated and politically aligned entertainment economy.        

The role of China, especially in new entertainment spaces, has also been discussed heavily. The emergence of TikTok, a Chinese privately owned company, as one of the most globally popular social media platforms has caused controversy and was banned in the US for a day in January 2025. At the time, the ban was justified as a national security issue, but it was also motivated by worries about a Chinese company’s dominance of the market. And it’s true that TikTok probably wouldn’t be here today without the control China exerts over its entertainment ecosystem by shutting out international competitors. As a titan of global entertainment, TikTok briefly became the centre of the competition to coordinate and dominate markets. This conflict is now playing out across many other mediums, such as AI.      

It’s not just the superpowers in this competition; smaller countries like the Gulf states are also getting involved. Saudi Arabia’s various ventures, such as the Red Sea Film Festival and the laughable (for the wrong reasons) Riyadh Comedy Festival, have regularly been skewered by Richard and Marina. More recently, the pair also discussed the Dubai influencer phenomenon, in which the Dubai government provides tax incentives and resources encouraging influencers to move there to promote the city. The underlying motives of that scheme have recently become clear, as influencers are being commandeered to revive optimism in Dubai’s economy. The ulterior motives of the Saudi schemes were never much concealed. In Gulf states, control of the economy and government is united under the countries' ruling families, who see success as controlling market share in commodities. They are now bringing that approach to the entertainment industry and joining the competition for market control.     

Richard and Marina paint a stark picture of the entertainment industry’s trajectory. Backdoor deals and vehicles for market control are now favoured over creating something that readers, viewers or audiences (‘society’) might like. The trends in the entertainment industry illustrate a structural change, as economies become increasingly directed by politically and financially motivated blocs competing for space. This is taking place in many industries, not just entertainment, from AI to infrastructure to EVs. 

So what does this mean for the UK’s entertainment industry? The podcast frequently points out its vulnerabilities: the focus on traditional media, our semi-commercialised public broadcaster, several smaller, increasingly uncompetitive TV channels, and no indigenous media platforms. Undoubtedly, the UK industry has some amazing strengths, but our legacy ecosystem and fractured market are under threat. If the industry doesn’t recognise its vulnerable position and make reforms, it could be buried by hostile forces. The pair have talked before about industry consolidation, and this may be the best strategy for building a resilient, globally competitive British entertainment sector. Fortunately, the UK has some incredible talent and an ecosystem with enormous global potential, which must be harnessed before it’s too late. These lessons go not just for entertainment but for many other areas of our economy too, in an increasingly unstable world.

Image: Flickr/Daniel Oberhaus (2019)

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