Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Friday, July 7th, 2023
The case for Netflix selling physical media
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, July 7th, 2023.
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THE MANY PLACES TO FIND ME OTHER THAN TWITTER
I grew the web site and this newsletter quite a bit using Twitter. I'm not going to rehash all the issues that have made Twitter less useful in the past year. But Twitter's grudges against Substack certainly hasn't helped.
I've signed up for a number of alternative services and as Twitter has progressively become less useful, I have been devoting more time to those platforms. At least for me, both Post and Spoutible are fine, but I've struggled to get any real traction going on. Mastodon is a bit clunky, but I've found it be a much better experience when I use the Elk interface. That provides a Twitter-like functionality and while I have a lot fewer followers on Mastodon, it tends to be people who don't follow me elsewhere. Which is helpful. Substack's Notes is still a work in progress, but since it's tied into Substack, I am trying to prioritize that a bit more. As for Bluesky, well, I haven't been able to get an invite. Which is weird, because presumably I would be in the demo of users they are looking for at this point.
Here's a rundown on where to find me right now. I am sure other social media services are coming as well. Now if someone could only create a Hootsuite-type platform that would allow me to post to any service through a single interface:
*Post: https://post.news/@/allyourscreens
Mastodon: https://notacult.social/@aysrick
Spoutible: https://spoutible.com/allyourscreens
Substack Notes: https://toomuchtv.substack.com/notes
Threads: allyourscreens
I realize I have mentioned this before, but if you think what I am doing here is useful, one of the best things you can do is forward this newsletter to others and encourage them to sign up for a free subscription. One of the biggest challenges I face is just cutting through the clutter of all the bigger outlets. Many of whom have an actual marketing budget.
THE CASE FOR NETFLIX SELLING PHYSICAL MEDIA
Back in 2019, I wrote a piece about the concept of "perceived value." It's the idea that essentially means any subscription service's true value can be determined by how valuable it is perceived to be by subscribers:
The lesson from all of this is that the temptation is to look at some ideal monthly subscription fee charged by a streaming service & use that as a benchmark for a service's "value." But in reality, what a service is worth in the real world is a concept called "perceived value." This is how it's described in the business dictionary:
A customer's opinion of a product's value to him or her. It may have little or nothing to do with the product's market price, and depends on the product's ability to satisfy his or her needs or requirements.
Media industry analysts and reporters often parrot the argument that "content is king." And while content is important, a bigger factor in the success of a media business is perceived value to the customer. How valuable is the content to the customers you're targeting? Is your user interface friendly enough that it doesn't lessen the value of your content in the eyes of frustrated users? There are a lot of factors that go into how customers perceive the value of a streaming service. And because it's all a bit squishy & difficult to quantify on a spreadsheet, it's often overlooked by industry analysts.
For instance, subscriber numbers are important. But to a certain extent, subscriber numbers are also a lagging indicator of perceived value. The customers subscribe in large BECAUSE the price matches or is lower than their perceived value of the service. It's why the cost of Amazon Prime Video is rolled into a package that includes everything from free music to free shipping. That's the customer's perceived value of the Amazon content.
Branding is also a component of perceived value. Successful branding can provide value in itself, delivering reinforcement to subscribers that a specific service has a value that no rival can match.
Netflix executives certainly aren't asking my advice, but if they did, I would recommend the streamer expand its current line of original series merchandise to include physical media. Specifically, Blu-Ray and/or DVD season runs of as many Netflix original titles as possible.
At first glance, this seems like a crazy idea. Netflix recently decided to get out of the DVD rental business, arguing that while it was still profitable, it basically wasn't worth the trouble of keeping it around. And the idea of physical media feels as if it goes against the core philosophy of Netflix. And then there is the complication of having the likely change some contracts to allow for shows which were previously only available on streaming to be purchased on disc.
But none of those issues are serious deal breakers and the upsides for Netflix outweigh any challenges. First, a physical release would provide an extra revenue stream for the creators, writers, and actors in the show. An important consideration at this point. In fact, Netflix could spin the idea as "Look, we're working to provide more money to our hard-working creative partners." In an ideal world, the multi-disc sets would be timed to be available for sale if a show was canceled. Or if the series is coming back, time the release of the previous season to a month or two out from the new season premiere. It's marketing 101 and the availability of the physical media would provide a lot of goodwill for Netflix, as well as some marketing and branding synergy for the streamer.
Plus, this is just another market differentiator for Netflix. You certainly aren't going to see a line of Peacock or Max box sets. And these releases help build the image of Netflix as being somehow more serious about its originals than other rivals.
Now granted, this is not a global idea. There are many markets in which regular physical releases won't be cost-effective. And it's not an idea that is going to provide any huge influx of revenue. But how much money is Netflix making from selling Stranger Things hoodies? It's a cost-effective way of branding and marketing. And it could be done for the cost of a few of those generally pointless pop-up activations Netflix is so fond of launching in NY and L.A.
TWEET OF THE DAY
SPEAKING OF BRANDING CHALLENGES
Branding still holds a fair amount of sway on broadcast television. Viewers tend to have strong ideas about the type of show they expect to see on individual networks and while those attitudes aren't cast in stone, getting viewers to tune into an unexpected show on a familiar network can make success much more difficult.
I've been thinking about that a lot today after watching some episodes of the Canadian comedy Son Of A Critch, which premieres July 24th on The CW. It is a delightful show, subtle in way that helped make Schitt's Creek a success in the U.S. It's one of the most successful comedies in Canada and based on what I've seen, I can see it doing well in the U.S.
But it faces some challenges. It's not the kind of show viewers would typically see on The CW and all of the changes at the network have been confusing even if you're being paid to follow these things.
I have no predictions about how the show will do in the U.S. If this was a perfect world, it would at least do well by CW standards, which is admittedly setting the bar rather low.
I will say the PR outreach on the show has been very minimal, at least from my perspective. Which isn't helpful, so hopefully the network is putting its promotional resources into an exclusive for People Magazine. Or at least, The Wrap.
ODDS AND SODS
* NPR, which hasn’t tweeted since April, is pretty active and lively on Threads, where it has already gained 500,000 followers.
* Yet another reminder of why I don't think the WGA strike is getting resolved anytime soon is this piece from Fast Company: "I'm An Experienced Screenwriter And I'm Also On Welfare."
WHAT'S NEW FOR THIS WEEKEND:
SATURDAY, JULY 8TH:
* A Belgian Chocolate Christmas (GAF)
* A Royal Christmas Crush (Hallmark)
* Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War (Hulu)
* Capturing Home Season Premiere (Magnolia)
* Greatest Geek Year Ever: 1982 (The CW)
* Liar, Liar (Crunchyroll)
* My Unique Skill Makes Me OP Even At Level 1 (Crunchyroll)
* 65 (Netflix)
* TenPeru (Crunchyroll)
* V.C. Andrews’ Dawn (Lifetime)
SUNDAY, JULY 9TH:
* Celebrity Family Feud Season Premiere (ABC)
* Classroom For Heroes (Crunchyroll)
* D.I. Ray (PBS)
* Domina (MGM+)
* First Comes Love Then Comes Murder (TV One)
* Forensic Files II (Investigation Discovery)
* Granchester On Masterpiece Season Premiere (PBS)
* Last Call: When A Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York (HBO)
* Luann And Sonja: Welcome To Crappie Lake Series Premiere (Bravo)
* Never Say Never With Jeff Jenkins Series Premiere (NatGeo)
* $100,000 Pyramid Season Premiere (ABC)
* Paranormal Caught On Tape Season Premiere (Travel)
* Running Wild With Bear Grylls: The Challenge (NatGeo)
* See It Loud: The History Of Black Television (CNN)
* Siegfried & Roy: The Original Tiger Kings (Reelz)
* Signs Of A Psychopath Season Premiere (Investigation Discovery)
* The Prank Panel Series Premiere (ABC)
* Trapped In The Farmhouse (Lifetime)
* Zom 100: Bucket List Of The Dead (Hulu)
MONDAY, JULY 10TH:
* BBQ Brawl Season Premiere (Food)
* BBQ USA Season Premiere (Food)
* Cannes Confidential Season Finale (Acorn TV)
* Dark Marvels Series Premiere (History)
* Flip The Strip Series Premiere (HGTV)
* Lil' John Wants To Do What? Season Premiere (HGTV)
* London Kills (Acorn TV)
* Miracle Workers: End Times Season Four Premiere (TBS)
* 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way Season Premiere (TLC)
* 90 Day Pillow Talk: The Other Way Season Premiere (TLC)
* People Magazine Investigates Season Premiere (Investigation Discovery)
* Secrets Of Miss America Series Premiere (A&E)
* Secrets Of Playboy Season Premiere (A&E)
* Sharks vs. Dolphins: Bahamas Battleground (NatGeo)
* Storybots: Answer Time (Netflix)
* Unknown: Killer Robots (Netflix)
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.