MEDIA UNIVERSE MAPS 2020-2026
A MEDIA UNIVERSE MAP FOR EVERY YEAR
Welcome to the Map Page!
Every month, I post my latest Media Universe Map here.
THIS IS THE LATEST- ENTIRELY REDRAWN - MAP:
My name is Evan Shapiro and I am considered by many as the Media Cartographer. This map is why. Since 2020, using only publicly available data and powerpoint, I have been mapping the Media ecosystem, redrawing it each month and posting it here. The map represents my view of the most important entities warring for attention in the Media, tech, and entertainment industries.
The map above is a true re-rendering of the universe. To see just how different this is from previous versions, keep scrolling!
The ratios on the map are not subjective opinion... they’re maths. Each entity is represented to scale by their current valuation - the fairest way I could find to portray the gravitational pull of power in the info-entertainment-tech industrial complex and track the trajectories of all its major players over time.
Here👇 is my first Media Universe Map, from 2020…
Five years ago, I posted that map on LinkedIn and it changed my career.
After that Deadline piece, someone called me a “Media Cartographer.” It stuck.
Drafting these maps, by hand, in PowerPoint; digging into the earning reports of every company on the map quarter after quarter; tracking the trajectories of all the planets, month after month, quarter after quarter, year after year, offers useful perspective.
That very process fuels this newsletter: where I publish more visualizations and infographical landscapes (such as the UK TV Universe, the Addressable Table of Elements, and the Creator Ecosphere) as part of weekly analytical essays covering the Media Industrial Complex and its ongoing mishegas.
WARNING: I do inject pointed opinion into these visualizations and articles. My work is framed by a filterless, foul-mouthed, no-holds-barred, Philadelphia attitude (Go Birds 🦅). But, in this semi-safe space, feelings always yield to facts. All my analysis begins and ends with a dogmatic obsession over what the data says. Because data is the voice of the audience.
In this new User-Centric Era, contrary to Hollywood’s self-interest, the Media will be defined not by the whims of moguls, but by the voice of the audience.
Unfortunately, far too often (especially this decade), the people who run the Media forget (aka give zero fucks) about what their audiences actually want. This newsletter aims to fix that. Here, we dig deep into data others find too complicated, or too inconvenient, and reflect it back with actionable insight and a bit of cheeky humor.
I hope you find all this useful and/or fun and that you’ll come back often to visit.
The maps above are low resolution. Below, you’ll find Media Maps from each year since 2020, in high resolution, for you to download and use however you like.
I hope you have a very Happy 2026!
ESHAP
