Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Thursday, June 30th, 2022
Boosting content out of the "long tail"
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, June 30th, 2022.
A COUPLE OF PROGRAMMING NOTES
* There will be a newsletter tomorrow, although it's likely to be much shorter due to the holiday. And there won't be one on Monday because of the holiday, but I'll return full-force on Tuesday.
* I only mention this every couple of weeks, because like you, I am weary of the some of the non-stop solicitations you find in some newsletters.
All of my Monday-Friday free newsletters remain free to all. I think keeping the newsletter free makes it much easier for readers to share it and based on the numbers I've seen, that happens a great deal. And while it's a bit contrarian to keep the newsletter free in an era where just about every newsletter has moved most of their content behind a paywall (see above) - or partnered with a newsletter network - I think the positives continue to outweigh the financial hit. And given that I'm almost at 25,000 free subscriptions, I think this plan is working.
But I do receive a regular number of requests from people who want to support my work in some way. So here are a few options:
1) Share the newsletter and encourage others to do the same.
2) Buy me a cup of coffee (which is really just a way to throw a few dollars to me in a one time payment)
3) Subscribe to the paid version of the Too Much TV newsletter. I've priced it as low as I can on the Substack platform - $5 per month or $50 for the year. I'm working on some bonus stuff for subscribers, but honestly, this is mostly just an option for people who want to support the newsletter (and can afford to do so).
I completely understand the financial limitations we all work under. I certainly can't begin to pay for all the subscriptions on my list of "must read" publications. But if you're able to subscribe, I appreciate the support. I certainly think that I'm providing a unique point of view that you don't see in other publications.
And now on to more stuff....
BOOSTING CONTENT OUT OF THE 'LONG TAIL'
Remember the concept of the "Long Tail?" In 2004, Chris Anderson wrote a piece in Wired which hyped the concept of "The Long Tail" and that idea caught fire in business circles, especially those in the tech sector. Here is how Anderson described the concept at the time:
Hit-driven economics is a creation of an age without enough room to carry everything for everybody. Not enough shelf space for all the CDs, DVDs, and games produced. Not enough screens to show all the available movies. Not enough channels to broadcast all the TV programs, not enough radio waves to play all the music created, and not enough hours in the day to squeeze everything out through either of those sets of slots.
This is the world of scarcity. Now, with online distribution and retail, we are entering a world of abundance. And the differences are profound.
With no shelf space to pay for and, in the case of purely digital services like iTunes, no manufacturing costs and hardly any distribution fees, a miss sold is just another sale, with the same margins as a hit. A hit and a miss are on equal economic footing, both just entries in a database called up on demand, both equally worthy of being carried. Suddenly, popularity no longer has a monopoly on profitability.
Of course, it turned out that there were a couple of problems with this idea. Especially when it comes to the world of streaming. While the cost of storing or delivering video is indeed minimal (relatively speaking), the cost of licensing or producing the content is not. Even if one media company owned everything, the cost of preparing the content, obtaining music rights, and other associated costs would mean that a lot of things would never be on a streaming service. While there is indeed a small possible viewership for some obscure TV shows from the 70s, the cost of preparing the show for streaming often outweighs the potential revenue.
The other problem with the "long tail" idea is scale. A smaller, more nimble streaming service can keep its operating costs down enough to make money streaming marginal titles that would otherwise be overlooked. And since those titles aren't especially popular, the licensing costs are manageable. But the bigger a service becomes the larger the operating costs, and the more intense the competition. At some point, the long tail content doesn't move the needle and streamers have no choice but to focus on the possible home run titles.
But there is a bit of a middle-ground in this discussion and it revolves around the idea of boosting titles out of the long tail. Are there ways that streamers can selectively make otherwise obscure titles more valuable by making them more appealing to subscribers? If a streamer can select a few titles that have the potential of finding an audience if there are exposed to enough people and boost that signal, they can move those titles out of the long tail and turn them into more valuable assets.
One way streamers try and do that is with recommendations and it's a path that Anderson recognized even back in the days of 2004:
What happened? In short, Amazon.com recommendations. The online bookseller's software noted patterns in buying behavior and suggested that readers who liked Into Thin Air would also like Touching the Void. People took the suggestion, agreed wholeheartedly, wrote rhapsodic reviews. More sales, more algorithm-fueled recommendations, and the positive feedback loop kicked in.
Particularly notable is that when Krakauer's book hit shelves, Simpson's was nearly out of print. A few years ago, readers of Krakauer would never even have learned about Simpson's book—and if they had, they wouldn't have been able to find it. Amazon changed that. It created the Touching the Void phenomenon by combining infinite shelf space with real-time information about buying trends and public opinion. The result: rising demand for an obscure book.
The problem with recommendations is that they are generally a blunt instrument for driving engagement. Even the best algorithms are imperfect, in part because they focus on past viewing behavior and generalized data: you've watched Adam Sandler movies, so you'll like his new one. Or you watch a lot of stand-up specials, so here's a new one you might like. But that doesn't help a show such as Squid Games, which doesn't check any of the boxes that would make an algorithm recommend it.
Netflix in particular depends a lot on word of mouth and serendipity to help with the discovery process. But all you have to do is speak with a few people who have produced shows for them to learn that a lot of great content just disappears without a concerted marketing effort.
As I've written a lot in the past months, marketing and PR are a big part of this solution. Figuring out how to allocate precious resources to get the biggest bang for the marketing buck. And unfortunately, it's rare to have the marketing resources to devote to highlighting a worthwhile long-tail title.
But another way to pull content into a higher profile is by making it as easy as possible to watch long-tail titles when subscribers do run across them.
The reality is that if you're a significant streamer, you should have as few subtitled titles as possible-especially when it's a TV show. I get it. Some people aren't bothered by subtitles, Americans are cultural heathens, etc. But study after study has shown that except for the rarest of situations, TV shows with dubbed audio have a much higher engagement level among casual viewers. And it turns out that's the case in just about every market outside the U.S. as well. Viewers prefer to hear the audio in their native language. And not having that option is enough to turn off a large percentage of the show's potential viewership.
I was reminded of this earlier this week when I stumbled across a show on Hulu named Rebecca. It's a French TV drama, subtitled but not dubbed into English. It aired in France late last year, and from what I can tell it was just dumped onto Hulu in January. And without the English-language dub, I can understand that decision. The audience for a French show is limited, this specific show doesn't have any profile in the U.S. and it features actors few people in the U.S. will have ever heard of before.
But here's the thing. Rebecca is really good. Oh, not "this is one of the best shows of the last decade good." But good enough that I can't help wondering what would have happened if Hulu had spent the money for an English-language dub and then provided even a minimal bit of promotion. It's the type of show I can see getting a bit of buzz if enough people realize it's there. That would require a bit of an expense, but the upside seems worth the risk. In its current state, Rebecca is a long-tail show that is never going to garner a substantial audience. But this is a universe where a modest amount of expense upfront might have provided a bit of buzz for both the show and for a streaming service that can always use a bit more cultural pizazz.
SPEAKING OF STREAMING AND THE 'LONG TAIL'
Peacock announced its lineup of originals for the rest of 2022 yesterday and I was struck by this tweet:
So what do you do if you're Peacock and you're just trying to get some attention for your originals? Obviously, you're still going to make an effort to get coverage in Variety or Rolling Stone. But there's a case to be made for working to increase the "long tail" marketing. Target smaller outlets that might be more receptive to coverage of the shows. In particular, hyper-target press for specific shows. Peacock has several tech-oriented originals coming up that would be of interest to tech sites if it's framed toward that audience. True crime shows, a drama series that touches on the oil industry, etc. They all have their natural constituencies. Doing that level of targeted press pitches is a bit more time-consuming than sending out a bunch of screeners and hoping some of the major outlets will cover it. And even if they do cover it, it will most likely just be a quick review when the show premieres.
The advantage for those outlets is that because the shows are receiving less attention from the major outlets, the people looking for coverage of the show will end up reading those pieces in "True Crime Weekly" or "The Oil Report." Long-tail marketing - unlike long-tail revenue - is an idea that works and the overall return on investment is pretty high.
To be honest, I've built my business around the idea of covering the shows that are worthwhile but likely to be overlooked by the big players. To an unsettling extent, my success is driven by levering a combination of SEO and viewer interest. No matter how great the writing might be (he says modestly), no one needs another review of Obi-Won Kenobi. And even if they did, no one could find mine buried in the middle of 400 other search results. But even a modest number of viewers can have an impact if you are one of the few publications covering the show. That SEO leverage is part of the pitch Peacock publicists need to make to those targeted outlets. It's a variation of the "big man in a small pond" theory of traffic growth.
As for Peacock, the advantage of receiving coverage in a number of smaller outlets is that at some point the coverage reaches a bit of critical mass. It starts to feel as if the show has a buzz and that pushes larger outlets towards feeling as if they "have" to cover it.
It's almost impossible to frame any business as an underdog when it's part of a Borg-like company such as Comcast. But to the extent that Peacock can position itself as the sleeper major streaming service, it provides itself a story that sets it apart from competitors such as Paramount+.
TWEET OF THE DAY
WHAT'S NEW FOR THURSDAY
Here's a quick rundown of all the new stuff premiering today on TV and streaming:
Bastard!! - Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy (Netflix)
Devils Season Premiere (The CW)
Fright Club Season Two Premiere (Travel)
Madagascar: A Little Wild (Hulu)
Me Or The Menu Series Premiere (Food)
Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Underground Rock Experience (HBO Max)
Sharkdog Season Premiere (Netflix)
Strange Evidence Season Premiere (Science)
The Bridge Season Two Premiere (HBO Max)
The Fallen (ALLBLK)
The Long Night (Shudder)
Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.
SEE YOU FRIDAY!
If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.