How Criterion turned its film archives into a streaming powerhouse

The average consumer subscribes to 4.5 streaming services, many of which offer content that feels largely indistinguishable from one another.

When Netflix disrupted film and television in the late 2010s, it introduced a new model of viewership: an endless blend of originals and archives, delivered through a finely tuned personalization algorithm. Today, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, Peacock, and many others follow the same playbook.

Not the Criterion Channel. The streamer rejects the infinite-content model...