Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Wednesday, December 21st, 2022
Everything you didn't know about the global streaming market.
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Wednesday, December 21st, 2022.
PROGRAMMING NOTES
Just a reminder that there will be a shortened version of the newsletter tomorrow, then I'll be off until next Wednesday when I drop a one-off holiday week newsletter. That will be it until Monday, January 2nd. Unless something unexpected happens, like anti-Santa Claus David Zaslav doing an unexpected round of holiday content removals.
A LOOK AT THE GLOBAL STREAMING MARKET
I spend a lot of time writing about the global streaming market, but finding accurate, up-to-date data can be a challenge. Which is why I find a new report by Amanda Lotz and Oliver Eklund at the Queensland University of Technology so fascinating.
Their Global Streaming Strategy Assessment takes a look at a number of streaming markets around the globe and it is filled with great charts and data points I haven't seen anywhere else.
This is a very good explanation of the market opportunities for non-U.S.-based streaming services:
In comparison, non-US-based services are differentiated by more content geared to the domestic market. The underlying competitive conditions vary significantly by country based on satisfaction with existing choice, cost, and market dynamics. In the US, monopoly cable companies evolved into monopoly internet providers, but in much of the world greater competition has encouraged different market dynamics and adoption patterns. South Korea has low-cost IPTV service accessed by nearly all homes and created consumer satisfaction that has slowed streaming adoption, while countries with low cable/satellite adoption, such as Australia, embraced the choice and affordability of streaming. Mobile-first markets such as India and Nigeria have adoption guided by technological factors, but greater access to content developed throughout India has been a key value proposition for services there. In Brazil, access to niche US series have been a valued addition to the market. Multi-territory services from outside the US are also gaining a foothold. Populous and relatively wealthy countries can support services with strong domestic adoption and enable their multi-territory niche availability (Globoplay; Viaplay; Zee5/SonyLiv), especially among countries with a strong diaspora and well regarded and distinctive screen product (India; Korea; France; Italy).
And this take on content differentiation between the services is also a very smart take:
Among major multi-territory services, Netflix is much more strongly international than Disney+. Prime Video’s strategy – tied to driving Prime memberships, ‘Channels’, and TVOD more than offering the best streaming service – differs yet, with substantially larger libraries in countries where its retail business is well established. Paramount+ and Disco/HBO Max may seem to be running the same race to US audiences, but outside of the US, there is less distinction to their value proposition, especially given the erosion of the HBO brand, which was never established globally. The scale of subscribers these services need is outside the US, but viewers outside the US will not subscribe to a handful of interchangeable services.
I also really liked this graphic overview of the top non-U.S.-based streaming services. How many of these services are you familiar with?
LOOKING BACK AT 2022
As I write this, the newsletter has just topped 35,000 free subscribers, which is about 30,000 more than it had a year ago. A lot of you are relatively new subscribers and I wanted to highlight a few stand-alone pieces from the past year from AllYourScreens. These pieces were generally built out after something in the newsletter resonated with readers and I wanted there to be an easier way for people to share it.
One thing all of these pieces have in common is that approach the streaming industry in ways that go against a lot of the conventional wisdom of the media reporter/analyst class. In part, because I've been around a long time and I tend to be less impressed with shiny new objects than some younger reporters. And I've found that living outside of the California/NYC areas provides me with a unique perspective on the industry. It's amazing what you'll learn when you're surrounded by people who aren't connected to the entertainment industry in an way other than as a consumer:
Six Big Misconceptions About The Streaming TV Business
Now executives who grew up in the golden days of linear television long for those 40 percent margins (and larger) that were made possible by market consolidation, few choices for subscribers, and a carefully crafted assembly line of markets that allowed new TV shows to move from broadcast & cable first-run to physical product, on-demand and then through various levels of syndication. Every stop along the way provided another bit of revenue as well as plenty of residuals.
Streaming is a very different business, but it's worth noting that it's not inherently unprofitable. I was amused to hear a Warner Bros Discovery financial exec shrug off the company's streaming business by noting that it's only a "20 percent margin business." For those of you who aren't CFO's or financial reporters, it's worth mentioning that in nearly any other business, a 20 percent margin is considered to be the sign of an extremely profitable business.
And that is the core of the problem right now. Media executives and shareholders are accustomed to seeing margins that are unrealistically large in any but the most unusual times. So they blame the streaming business instead of recognizing that the gravy train days of printing money without worrying about competition from other forms of entertainment is coming to an end.
An Open Letter To David Zaslav About Content Discovery
I will be the first to admit that this piece makes what I think is a well-reasoned argument, I completely misjudged the room. I believed the best way to monetize WBD massive content library was to improve content discovery. Apparently David Zaslav decided it was a better approach to just massively cut the amount of content subscribers had to choose from, thus making what was left easier to find.
No, Netflix Doesn't Need To Discard Its Binge Release Model
But I miss the experience of reading weekly recaps and sharing a common cultural experience with other viewers over the course of a season.
That experience was wonderful and you can still experience that to a lesser degree with some shows that are released on a weekly basis. But to a certain extent, that complaint is similar to the one that music fans make about the lessened importance of album releases. It was fun to experience an entire album beginning to end, without being able to cherry pick tracks and only buy the ones you wanted. But both of those shared cultural experiences reflect a bygone era and that won't change even if every show was released weekly and you could only buy complete albums and not individual songs.
Commentary: John Malone Is Wrong About CNN (And Lots Of Other Things)
No matter how smart or talented you may be, every human has an intellectual expiration date.
We all know very smart, successful people who haven't possessed the self-awareness to recognize that they might no longer be one of the Alpha dogs of their industry. They have a string of successes and at some point can't keep themselves from rolling the dice one more time. And because of their track record - because they by now they are obscenely wealthy - they convince otherwise astute executives to follow them off the cliff like lemmings to a Quibi.
'EMPIRE OF LIGHT' | A FILM BY SAM MENDES | GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD NOMINEE FOR BEST ACTRESS OLIVIA COLMAN | SCREENINGS NOW AVAILABLE (SPONSORED AD)
ODDS AND SODS
* Season 13 of The Real Housewives Of New Jersey premieres Tuesday, February 7th on Bravo.
* BYUtv is premiering the original drama Silverpoint on Sunday, February 5th. Logline: "In 1997, four kids vanish in the woods. Twenty-three years later, one boy aims to find out what happened. As an adventure camp, Silverpoint aims to help teens relate to the real world, develop friendships...and press the “off” switch from time to time. In reality, it's a melting pot of kids from the city stuck in the middle of the woods and way out of their comfort zone. And this is how Louis, Meg, Kaz and Glen come to find themselves stripped of their online worlds and bonding together, back to basics. But on their second day, in the middle of the night, the four of them stumble upon something buried in the woods…something impossible…that will send their lives and the world around them spiraling out of control."
TWEET OF THE DAY
WHAT'S NEW FOR WEDNESDAY:
Big Bet (Hulu)
Disconnect: The Wedding Planner (Netflix)
Emily In Paris Season Three Premiere (Netflix)
Fuhgeddabout Christmas (VH1)
I Am A Killer (Netflix)
Jack Ryan Season Premiere (Prime Video)
The Flagmakers (Disney+)
The Interest Of Love Series Premiere (Netflix)
Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.
SEE YOU THURSDAY!
If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.