In early 2022 I wrote an opinion piece about how some recent Netflix news was a wake-up call to the magic industry. The article went surprisingly viral (likely partly because it was free to read). Some famous magicians and some magic industry figures reached out to discuss the piece.
Rory Adams
Ironically, when I was working on a Netflix show not long after, the show's star even brought up the piece to me. The opinion surmised that Netflix lost subscribers for the first time in its long history, and its resulting pivot to include advertising was a signal to our industry. That there's too much magic online now and that the boom of virtual magic tutorials was coming to an end.
Annoyingly, I think I was right. In 2023, we've seen fewer video tutorials pushed by the big magic companies than ever. Ellusionist is suddenly making more and more physical items, and Vanishing Inc. even hired someone full-time to produce their original physical products.
Just look at Penguin Magic, once the kings of the virtual download, with their homepage plastered in $9.99 video tutorials. Now, every single trick on their homepage includes a physical item. I can't stress how wild that is. Penguin are the number one magic company when it comes to optimisation. They only ever do what works and in the cheapest way possible.
