Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Tuesday, April 16th, 2024

Understanding why people watch YouTube

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Tuesday, March 16th, 2024:

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT YOUTUBE
Nielsen released its latest edition of The Gauge today and industry watchers continue to use YouTube's #1 ranking as an indication that a growing number of viewers prefer free ad-supported services such as YouTube and Tubi over many of the SVOD platforms:

I have some thoughts about YouTube, but I do want to note that Netflix has a slightly larger share (8.1%) than Hulu, Prime Video, and Disney+ combined. 

I also want to mention that when I write about Max's failings (and the failings of Warner Bros. Discovery in general) being in large part due to flawed strategy and bad management, one of the reasons I do is Max's 1.3% in last month's Gauge. The streaming service that includes all of the current HBO originals, a solid selection of recently released theatrical films, and a wide selection of unscripted programming from some of the most-watched linear TV networks was viewed as much last month as The Roku Channel. And was viewed less than Tubi. Yes, viewers like free. But they also like services that provide programming they see as regularly worthwhile. And that falls on management. 

As for YouTube, it doesn't get nearly enough coverage in the industry trades and I get it. It's hard to get a handle on what people are watching on YouTube. And many of the people writing about TV or working in the industry don't entirely understand how many viewers use YouTube. It's not just fail clip videos and Mr. Beast. Or even gaming recaps and reviews. 

Millions of people are regularly watching podcasts and talk shows, many of them as long as two hours per episode. Major sports leagues post daily 8-10-minute recaps of the previous night's games. And there is a wealth of original scripted programming that still falls under the radar of people in the industry.

Here is one small example. The GAWX Art YouTube channel only posts a video every few months. But each 8-10 minute video is an astounding example of old-school camera work combined with the YouTube creative aesthetic. The results are something as high-end as anything you'll find on a high-budget streaming show. Don't believe me? Here is a 38-minute interview with Gawx that focuses on how he shot just the first minute of one of the videos. 

There are a couple of lessons there. First, a lot of viewers aren't just watching YouTube because they like free things or scrolling through cat videos. YouTube has stuff that just isn't available elsewhere. A lot of crap, sure. But also a lot of real, substantive content. 

And because of the way the current copyright laws work, YouTube can host content that traditional SVODs can't. If an SVOD wants to stream episodes of After M*A*S*H, they have to pay to digitize and clean up the original files (assuming they can be found), make sure all the music rights are negotiated, as well as licensing fees and other contractual issues.

But someone can post the episodes to YouTube and assuming that no one contacts the company and claim the copyright, they'll stream with no problem. In fact, one of the dirty little secrets of YouTube is that (as an example) the studio that owns the copyright to the show can't officially license the episodes. Or more likely, doesn't want to spend the money to do so. But when some user posts it on YouTube, the studio files a copyright claim but allows the episodes to continue streaming. And now they get a percentage of the advertising YouTube sells against the episodes. 

I'm not arguing that comparing YouTube against Netflix or Max is apples vs. oranges. But there are substantive differences between the two. 

MUD MADNESS IS MUDDY, ALSO QUITE FUN TO WATCH
I generally find a lot of auto-related television to be a bit boring. While I always enjoyed Top Gear (and it's quasi-sister program The Grand Tour), the various street racing programs don't do much for me.

So I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy the new Discovery series Mud Madness (airing Tuesday nights), which follows the races associated with the winter off-road mud racing tour. Aside from the really fun races, the show's producers did a nice job of highlighting some of the sport's more charismatic racers, including the social media savvy Bryce Sparks.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Sparks about how he got involved in off-road racing, what is his typical week looks like and what he thinks the show's producers missed when putting together the series. Here's one excerpt from that conversation:

Q: What's one of the biggest challenges you face every week as you go into the race? Is it track conditions, how you're doing mentally? What is the thing that is on your mind when you pull up to the track for the weekend?

Bryce Sparks: The one thing that I feel the show misses is everything that happens in between. So we go out and tear up everything on the weekend. Sometimes we don't. But a lot of times we do.

So I was in Texas last weekend. I left immediately after racing Saturday and drove all through the night. I got home at 6:00 a.m. Sunday morning and slept a few hours. Then I got up and I was a family man. I was Dad. I did all that good stuff. And when they went to bed, then I go out in the garage and I started washing stuff. I start fixing stuff. 

It's that way all week long, between running a business and getting everything ready for the next race. We're content creators, so we're always filming things and shipping out merchandise. It's really long days. There's just a lot that goes on behind the scenes, just for us to pull up on Thursday or Friday to do it all over again.

People just see the clean rigs pulling in and they just think, "oh, that guy just went home, took a nap and came back." They don't know all the things that went on.

That's really the struggle. Not just the race madness, but the lifestyle in general.

In case you missed it, here is a review of the show I posted last week.

ODDS AND SODS
* I didn't watch much of Apple TV+'s original comedy/dramedy The Big Door Prize when it premiered last year. I watched a couple of episodes and for whatever reason, it didn't connect with me.

But I was offered the chance to interview showrunner David West Read as well as stars Chris O'Dowd and Gabrielle Dennis this week, so I decided to revisit the series ahead of its season two premiere on April 24th. I found myself blowing through the entire first season along with the ten 30-minute episodes that comprise the second season. And really loved it.

Which offers ups two lessons. One: sometimes, you just have to be in the right mood to watch a TV show. And second, there's still time to catch up with The Big Door Prize before it premieres next week.

* Lifetime has greenlit the new original movie The Bad Orphan, executive produced by and starring Betsy Brandt (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul). Mark Taylor (Reacher) and Eve Edwards (The Good Doctor) also star.

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW

TUESDAY, APRIL 16TH:
* An American Bombing: The Road To April 19th (HBO)
* CTRL+ALT+DESIRE (Paramount+)
* Hip Hop World (Prime Video)
* Jimmy Carr: Natural Born Killer (Netflix) - [first look video]
* Sounds Delicious With Carnie Wilson Series Premiere (AXS TV)

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17TH:
* Don't Hate The Player Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Our Living World (Netflix)
* The Grimm Variations Series Premiere (Netflix)
* See You In Another Life (Hulu)
* The Circle Season Premiere (Netflix)
* The Grimm Variations Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Under The Bridge Series Premiere (FX)

SEE YOU ON WEDNESDAY!