January 21, 2024, finds the video game world in a holding pattern before a massive release slate. However, two trends dominate the conversation:

Theatrically, January 21, 2024, belonged to the Mean Girls musical movie adaptation. Despite mixed critic reviews, it dominated popular media discourse on TikTok, where the "Jingle Bell Rock" dance trend was revived for Gen Z.

Look into the driving true-crime viewership on streaming platforms.

The Reuters Institute's 2021 media predictions, published in early January, noted that three-quarters of editors, CEOs, and digital leaders said COVID-19 had accelerated their plans for digital transition. Driving digital subscriptions was rated an important revenue focus for 76 percent of the sample, ahead of both display and native advertising—a complete reversal from 2018. Publishers expected an average of four different revenue streams to be important in 2021, with e-commerce and events following subscriptions as top priorities.

The previous week's top show, Netflix's , fell sharply by 29 percent to third place. The Karate Kid sequel series had premiered on January 1 and experienced an initial demand spike, followed by a second surge before interest began to wane. Saturday Night Live , which hadn't aired a new episode since December 19, still ranked sixth with 61.8 times the average show's demand. The announcement that John Krasinski would host the January 30 episode had generated renewed interest.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to online content creation, with many creators and producers turning to digital platforms to produce and distribute their content. The rise of online content creation has democratized the entertainment industry, enabling new voices and perspectives to emerge.

This list highlights the that was solidifying, with Disney+ and Netflix leading the pack, and even network mainstays like "Grey's Anatomy" finding new life on streaming platforms.

By late January 2021, the battle for eyeballs among streaming giants reached a fever pitch. On January 24, the conversation was dominated by and its first Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) series, WandaVision . Having premiered just ten days earlier, the show was at the center of the zeitgeist, proving that high-budget, episodic "event television" could successfully replace the traditional blockbuster experience.

However, the music business was facing existential questions. On January 24, the CMU Digest reported that UK major label bosses had been grilled by MPs in Parliament's ongoing inquiry into the economics of streaming. The CEOs of Universal Music, Sony Music, and Warner Music defended record deals that pay a minority share of revenue to artists, stressing the investment labels make in A&R and marketing. Many artists had testified that without live income, they faced financial hardship—a problem compounded by the cancellation of festivals.

Three major trends defined the content cycle of this specific weekend: