Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Tuesday, August 8th, 2023

The ever popular "we are going to make less stuff that sucks" approach to streaming video.

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Tuesday, August 8th, 2023. 

THE EVER POPULAR 'WE ARE GOING TO MAKE MORE STUFF THAT DOESN'T SUCK' APPROACH TO STREAMING
There are few predictable things in the world of streaming video. But one certainty is that when faced with revenue challenges or the need to cut contend spending, nearly every CEO will utter some variation of "We are going to make fewer things and they are going to be better quality."

Now let's be clear. While this is a sentiment that sounds thoughtful and rational as you are hearing it uttered, it is most certainly a phrase which means absolutely nothing. The implication is that a lot of the stuff you previously produced sucked and you should have known better. But you totally are going to be smarter this time around. Which is not a claim that instills confidence in your company’s strategy.

The reality is that when an executive says this, they are just trying to justify the decision to less money on content. It's the media executive's equivalent to a parent telling their kid, "Yes, I will be working more hours and we'll have a lot less time together. But the time we do have will be QUALITY time."

All of which is a way of introducing these comments from Paramount Global's quarterly earnings call, which were so vague that if meaningless, feel-good comments were a superhero, the company would be the Superman AND Batman of the streaming video world. It's not just the company provided almost no specifics on how any of its platforms are doing (I'm sorry, "up 87% over last year" without any context isn't specific) or that it lumps various services together in a way that makes it nearly impossible to determine whether they are growing, shrinking or some combination of trends.

No, the mushy strategy highlight of the call were these comments from CFO Naveen Chopra, who talked a lot of "optimizing" content, so that "each key audience segment" has "not too little, but also not too much" compelling content. Not to be rude, but while I've subscribed to Paramount+ since before it launched, having too much compelling content has never been a problem I have personally experienced.

Chopra also said the company was using internal data to help it identify key audience groups and use their data to help them make decisions on what shows to produce in the future. Which is - I am pretty sure - the same approach every other SVOD in the world does on a regular basis:

"We’re accomplishing that goal by leveraging content across platforms more and more by leaning into franchises and now that we’ve got more data, we’re increasingly able to use analytics to understand how to super serve these key audience segments. And so we can get away from — call it a volume focused game — and be more focused on making sure that we have the right content for the right audience at the right time."

Although I have to say the most perplexing comments came from CEO Bob Bakish, who had this to say about the company's use of data to drive content strategy:

"We talked about Paramount+ as news, sports and a mountain of entertainment. And the fact of the matter is when we look at the data under the covers, we are seeing conjoined analysis if you will of sports viewers watching entertainment programming… For example, we probably need to do less for that viewer who’s an NFL viewer in the fall and do more for that viewer outside the fall because we can rely on the NFL. That’s an example of fine tuning our strategy."

So in other words, if you're a Paramount+ subscriber and don't love football, then the fall is going to be a long few months for you.

I'm joking (somewhat), but these comments irritated me in part because I saw them being reported on as if they were jammed with incredibly thoughtful and wise insight. When it really came down to "Let's make fewer things that suck" and "during football season, we don't need to premiere as many originals."

Impressive. 

IT'S *SLIGHTY* POSSIBLE THAT THE PENSKE MAGS HAVE A FAVORITE SIDE IN THIS HOLLYWOOD STRIKE

SPEAKING OF PENSKE MEDIA OUTLETS
I spend a fair amount of time whacking away at various Penske Media Corporation (PMC)-owned outlets and it's not personal. Some really talented journalists work at the many entertainment news outlets owned by PMC and as a reminder, those include Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, TV Line, Billboard, Rolling Stone, IndieWire and other smaller outlets. It also owns Dick Clark Productions as well as a wide range of events and awards, such as The Golden Globe Awards, The ACM Awards, American Music Awards, the Latin American Music Awards, SXSW...and I could going for awhile.

Listen, as someone who has been a journalist on-and-off my entire adult life, I'm all in favor of journalists being successful and keeping their jobs. And there is nothing wrong in the abstract with being owned by PMC - well, there's that Saudi Sovereign Investment Fund money, but I digress.

But competition is good and it isn't healthy for so many of the leading entertainment news outlets to be owned by the same company. Because they can (and do) use their size and power to push out competitors. And it's not just on the big stories. It's common for a network or studio to send one of the Penske outlets a press release ahead of time so someone can do a quick rewrite and call it an "exclusive."

And as proof that I am not just being petty or somehow jealous, The Hollywood Reporter's executive editor of awards Scott Feinberg said the secret thing out loud this week when he sent an email to studios and publicists suggesting there might be consequences if THR wasn't given top priority to their screenings. As Vanity Fair reports:

“We feel that doing so is plainly unfair to THR, as it puts us at a competitive disadvantage, especially at film fests, where every second counts,” Feinberg wrote. “It is not unreasonable to ask you to insist that someone is either an awards pundit or a critic/cover editor, but not both, at least during awards season,” he added, expressing apparent frustration that critics and editors who also do awards punditry jump him—primarily an awards pundit—in line to get access to screenings. Feinberg, a longtime Hollywood columnist, is known for the “Feinberg Forecast,” in which he predicts various showbiz awards races, and for his interview-driven Awards Chatter podcast.

A spokesperson for PMC clarified in a statement that Feinberg “did not in any way mean to imply that he should see films before others, but just that all awards analysts should see them at the same time and not be given preferential treatment,” adding that the email was “inartfully worded” and that Feinberg plans to follow up with the studios and strategists to make that clear. “It was Scott’s understanding that there have been instances where other awards analysts have gotten early access to a film by also claiming to be a reviewer and were able to see films before others. Any suggestion of consequences for not providing early viewing access to Scott was not the intent,” the spokesperson said.

It's worth noting that Feinberg's email apparently brought up losing participation in PMC's live events and industry roundtables, which are also an increasingly important part of the company's revenue stream.

This might be a good time to point out that you should support the small, independent entertainment news outlets you find valuable. 

TWEET OF THE DAY

ODDS AND SODS
* With series star Craig Robinson unable to promote the show due to the ongoing Hollywood strikes, Peacock plans to sample Killing It on the USA Network, YouTube and TikTok.

* Workers at Story Syndicate have successfully unionized with WGA-East and the Motion Pictures Editors Guild in a joint campaign. The documentary powerhouse behind projects like Harry and Meghan, Unknown, Fauci, Last Call and others, voluntarily recognized the workers' union.

WHAT'S NEW TODAY AND TOMORROW:

TUESDAY, AUGUST 8TH:
* Destination NBA: A G League Odyssey (Prime Video)
* Doubling Down With The Derricos Season Finale (TLC)
* Hard Knocks: Training Camp With The New York Jets Season Premiere (HBO)
* Never Seen Again (Paramount+)
* Only Murders In The Building Season Three Premiere (Hulu)
* Righteous Thieves (Fuse)
* The Seven Deadly Sins: Grudge Of Edinburgh Part 2 (Netflix)
* Zombieverse (Netflix)

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9TH:
* High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (Disney+)
* Ladies First: A Story Of Women In Hip-Hop (Netflix)
* Moving (Hulu)
* Strange Planet Series Premiere (Apple TV+)
* Superfan Series Premiere (CBS)

Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.

SEE YOU WEDNESDAY!

If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.