Unexpected blockbuster ‘Backrooms’ originated from a 4chan thread—and it’s one reason why legacy media sees advantages to the death of monoculture

In 1983, the two and a half hour finale of MASH drew an estimated 125 million viewers, breaking the record for a television program’s ratings and marking a time in popular culture when a single show could capture the attention of American—or global—audiences. 

Legacy media veterans say this era of monoculture is dead, but they’re far from mourning it. 

The proliferation of often-niche online communities has presented media outlets and studios with opportunities to stumble upon outside-the-box ideas and reach previously untapped audiences, Kathleen Grace, chief AI officer of Lionsgate, explained at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Santa Barbara on Monday.

“While there’s no single monoculture, there’s lots of these little cultures,” Grace told Most Powerful Women editorial........

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