Thanks for the piece Rick. Interesting as always. As I have thought more about your point on Peak TV The important data points that you have mentioned: total number of shows, total number of episodes, and total spend on shows. As you suggested in your piece, the total number of episodes likely peaked a number of years back. And it is difficult to compare cost per a season (though I do think it would be interesting to see average cost per season, per episode, and in total across shows). Additionally, and this relates back to another theme of your pieces, it is about driving value for the company for each show.
We could probably measure something like "cultural impact" to see if shows peaked in their influence on culture at some point, though social media has changed so much this might be hard. Is it maybe Net Profit Margin since this is all the CEOs really worry about in the end? But if peak Net Profit Margin is also a quality trough, do we want to call that the peak?
I think maybe the best would be to triangulate these to see if there is a point where Net Profit Margin, cultural impact, and (maybe) total number of episodes had their peaks together.
It's a complicated issue. I understand why people like the "Peak TV" idea, it's easy to define. Even if it's not that accurate.
But as you say, trying to figure out a better way is pretty complicated.
Parrot Analytics tries to define a show's "value" by measuring everything from social media chatter to the number of people downloading it illegally. But I'm not entirely convinced it's accurate enough for my comfort level.
It's why you see the streamers creating this super-complex internal data mix, tracking everything from how many people they think subscribed to see the show to how long they stay subscribed.
But getting back to the Peak TV question. It's now complicated by the fact that streamers like Netflix are spending the same amount of money (or more), but allocating it in different ways. More co-productions, licensing shows for just some territories. Which makes the "how many shows were produced" question even more irrelevant.
Thanks for the piece Rick. Interesting as always. As I have thought more about your point on Peak TV The important data points that you have mentioned: total number of shows, total number of episodes, and total spend on shows. As you suggested in your piece, the total number of episodes likely peaked a number of years back. And it is difficult to compare cost per a season (though I do think it would be interesting to see average cost per season, per episode, and in total across shows). Additionally, and this relates back to another theme of your pieces, it is about driving value for the company for each show.
We could probably measure something like "cultural impact" to see if shows peaked in their influence on culture at some point, though social media has changed so much this might be hard. Is it maybe Net Profit Margin since this is all the CEOs really worry about in the end? But if peak Net Profit Margin is also a quality trough, do we want to call that the peak?
I think maybe the best would be to triangulate these to see if there is a point where Net Profit Margin, cultural impact, and (maybe) total number of episodes had their peaks together.
It's a complicated issue. I understand why people like the "Peak TV" idea, it's easy to define. Even if it's not that accurate.
But as you say, trying to figure out a better way is pretty complicated.
Parrot Analytics tries to define a show's "value" by measuring everything from social media chatter to the number of people downloading it illegally. But I'm not entirely convinced it's accurate enough for my comfort level.
It's why you see the streamers creating this super-complex internal data mix, tracking everything from how many people they think subscribed to see the show to how long they stay subscribed.
But getting back to the Peak TV question. It's now complicated by the fact that streamers like Netflix are spending the same amount of money (or more), but allocating it in different ways. More co-productions, licensing shows for just some territories. Which makes the "how many shows were produced" question even more irrelevant.