Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Monday, August 26th, 2024

Adam Conover is wrong about streaming television

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, August 23rd, 2024:

THE WORLD OF CONNECTED TV
Media Play News has a nice rundown of the world of connected televisions (CTV) and how it's become a conduit for advertisers and consumers to connect directly with each other in real time:

The connected TV enables TV manufacturers such as Vizio, LG Electronics, Samsung, Sony/Google, TCL and Hisense to operate and market ad-supported streaming video content that can compete with a growing ecosystem of third-party ad-supported SVOD services, AVOD platforms and FAST channels.

With ad-supported content the new strategy embraced by media companies looking to generate profitability from their streaming business, CTV allows consumer electronics manufacturers to join the party.

Implementing strategies such as service bundling, content packages and promotional offers to bolster user retention and drive growth, the overarching goal among CTV players is advertising revenue and distribution.

CTV ad revenue is projected to double to $41.2 billion in 2028, from $20.5 billion in 2023, according to estimates from Pricewaterhouse-Coopers.

This is a part of the business that doesn't receive a lot of attention from the industry press or Hollywood's creative community. But it arguably one of the fastest growing media ad markets. And with the influx of cash and increased competition between platforms, you are beginning to see some of these manufacturers slowing easing into creating their own original content in order to stand out from their rivals.

ADAM CONOVER IS WRONG ABOUT STREAMING TELEVISION
Adam Conover is a smart guy and his television super power is taking complex issues and breaking them down into easy-to-understood nuggets.

Conover has also been at the forefront of Hollywood's creatives who argue that big tech and streaming ruined everything there is to love about the television industry. And he's not just a random observer. He serves on the Writers Guild of America West Board of Directors and was on the WGA 2023 negotiating committee. People in the industry listen to him and cite his arguments when talking about what's wrong with the industry.

The problem is that Conover is also the textbook example of when it comes to the streaming television industry. For those unfamiliar with the term, here is a good definition:

"People's tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with their existing beliefs."

In other words, humans tend to see what they want to see and only acknowledge the data that proves they are right.

Which brings me to a video Conover recently posted on his YouTube channel entitled "How Streaming Destroyed TV." And it is a 20-minute rundown of every tired criticism of streaming you have ever heard. Even when he touches on an issue that is a valid complaint, his take is so bombastic and over-the-top that he loses whatever intellectual high ground he has.

I am not going to go through all of the things he gets wrong in the video. But I will say that if I have one overriding goal with this newsletter, it is to push back on the conventional wisdom of the television and streaming TV industries. And if you have been reading this newsletter for awhile, I suspect you can watch Conover's video and find yourself remembering things I have written the make the exact counter argument.

This is not to say I am always (or even mostly) right. But I do try and understand the business as best I can and watching Conover's video, it just feels as if he has this set of beliefs and he has no interest in learning any contrary data points. 

And while I have no inclination to trash talk Conover's work, a number of things he says in the video are either misleading or flat out wrong. Which is fine, except a lot of people don't know better. And that's not good for the industry's workers and decisionmakers.

And by the way, I'd love the opportunity to debate this with Conover. He is a very smart guy. But in this case, he's saying some things which aren't that wise.

TWEET OF THE DAY

ODDS AND SODS
* The third season of Somebody Somewhere will premiere Sunday, October 27th. It will also be the final season of the show.

* Peacock has given a straight-to-series order to 1970s espionage thriller Ponies, starring and executive produced by Emilia Clarke (Game Of Thrones). 

* A Quiet Place: Day One, the third film in the A Quiet Place franchise, will get its SVOD premiere in the U.S. and Canada Tuesday, August 27th on Paramount+.

* Hulu has given a straight-to-series order for The Spot, starring and executive produced by Oscar and Emmy winner Kate Winslet. The project comes from Ed Solomon (Full Circle, Men in Black), who created the series and is writing and showrunning the show. According to Hulu, the series "follows a successful surgeon (Winslet) and her school teacher husband who suspect she might be responsible for a child’s hit-and-run death. While looking into the matter, dark secrets are revealed that will test their relationship as they confront the possibility of hidden guilt and betrayal."

* The stand-up special Deon Cole: OK Mister will premiere September 17th on Netflix.

* Season six of the syndicated daytime talker The Kelly Clarkson Show will premiere on Monday, September 23rd. 

* In an effort to sell off parts of the company before the new owners take over, Paramount Global has hired a bank to explore the sale of non-core TV stations in 12 markets including New York City, Dallas, Tampa, and Philadelphia. The sale could bring between $500 million to $1 billion. 

* Season two of Oxgen’s Snapped: Behind Bars premieres Sunday, September 1st. The series interviews women convicted of murder years after their cases were covered on Oxygen's true crime series Snapped.

* TCM has announced a nine-week limited series entitled Making Change: The Most Significant Political Films of All Time. The series will be hosted by Ben Mankiewicz and will showcase from from a list chosen by The New Republic. Guests in former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Stacey Abrams, Melissa Etheridge, Sally Field, Spike Lee, Steven Spielberg and John Turturro.

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW

MONDAY, AUGUST 26TH:
* Houses of Horror: Secrets Of College Greek Life Season Finale (A&E)
* No Gain, No Love (Prime Video)
* Sommerdahl Murders (Acorn TV)
* Voces: Almost American (PBS)

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27TH, 2024:
* Adam Sandler: Love You (Netflix) 
* American Masters: Blake Edwards: A Love Story In 24 Frames (PBS)
* Counting The Vote: A Firing Line Special With Margaret Hoover (PBS)
* Don Matteo Season Thirteen Premiere (MHz Choice)
* Horror's Greatest (Shudder)
* Only Murders In The Building Season Four Premiere (Hulu)
* Untold: Sign Stealer (Netflix)

SEE YOU ON TUESDAY!