Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Friday, May 31st, 2024

Some changes behind the scenes at Too Much TV

ere's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, May 31st, 2024:

PRODUCTION NOTES
As you know, every edition of Too Much TV is free to everyone and that won't change. But I am tweaking a few other things behind the scenes in hopes of making this a bit more predictable financially.

One small change you'll notice in the regular edition will be the addition of a small ad. I've sold a few FYC ads in the past, but I haven't seriously pursued it until now. But the newsletter is big enough (over 80,000 daily subscribers) that there is interest from advertisers and I have been exploring my options. Given that I don't have a direct sales background, the best option would seem to be an automated sales system. But that means that I give up a lot of control on what ads would run.

So I am going ease into this on my own. Next week, I'll be rolling out a system that will allow people to order ads directly and I'll be able to control whether they run and their overall look. So, sad to say, no ads for penile implants or various bitcoin opportunities.

If this is something you might be interested in, please reach out to me directly in the meantime for more info. Until it ramps up, an ad will run $150 for one newsletter. But you receive a $50 credit if you are also a paid subscriber. The going rate for a newsletter of my size seems to run in the $400 or so range. So this is a nice way to reach a targeted audience at a fair price. And given that the advertising will be limited to one ad per newsletter, you'll have the advantage of an uncluttered presentation that goes directly to a wide range of engaged TV viewers as well as people working at every network, studio, production company and agency in the industry.

As a side note, I'm also going to begin experimenting with running brief, text-based job ads in Friday's newsletter. They will be free for now, so if you're interested, respond directly to this newsletter. Assuming I get enough interest, they will begin next Friday. I don't expect this idea to be much of a moneymaker. Instead, I am doing it as a way to help support the industry and make this newsletter as useful as possible.

I KNOW I HAVE THIS CONVERSATION A LOT
The entertainment press has been filled in the past couple of weeks with stories bemoaning the state of the movie industry and it matters in the context of this newsletter because the streaming video business seems to get an outsized amount of the blame for the problems of theatrical movie business.

Having the same conversations with my fellow reporters sometimes drives me a bit insane and I am trying my best not to engage in the discussions. But this piece today from RogerEbert.com's Matt Zoller Seitz sucked me back into it and it was for the most part as pointless an effort as ever. The piece has some really solid ideas, but this point jumped out at me:

The reliably sober-minded industry blog The Ankler wrote, "Theatrical releases do much, much, much better than films that go straight-to-streaming and, as a result, drive more value for streamers (and make more money in the traditional sense for studios). I knew this to be true, but when you lay out all the available data, the difference is so stark, so brutal, it’s not even a debate." 

I've written about this Ankler piece before and I don't want to waste a lot of time recapping familiar material. But the problem with comparing the streaming audience of theatrical releases vs streaming-first releases is that isn't a apples-to-apples comparison. Theatrical movies are by definition self-selecting now. Most studios are only releasing the films they believe have the widest possible audience, which means they are also the movies most likely to be of interest to streaming audiences. And yes, the money spent marketing theatrical films generally makes them more value to streamers. But it also makes the theatrical releases more financially challenging.

Part of the confusion over this issue centers around the fact that the complexities of streaming revenue and costs aren't well understood across the industry. And so assumptions are made based on flawed understandings of value.

For instance, say you are a streamer that has spent $50 million on a mid-level rom-com. You're going to likely spend at least an additional $20 million on marketing and other theatrical-related costs. And depending on when the tickets are sold and where, you'll likely only get about half the box office. So that film will need to make $140 or more to break even. Which in today's market is a stretch.

Or.....you can send that film directly to streaming. The perception seems to be that a streaming release provides no value to the streamer. Or not enough that could matter or can even be estimated. And without getting bogged down in the specifics, I can assure you that both of those ideas are wrong.

People arguing that nearly every movie would do better with a theatrical release are often relying on a flawed understanding on how the streaming industry works. And you also have to believe that every streaming executive has decided to stubbornly lose money when they could simply release most of their movies theatrically. You have to believe that there are executives at Amazon who looked at the success of the streaming-only Road House and said to themselves, "Sure, Road House II might do okay in theaters. But screw the bottom line, this one is also going to be streaming only!"

Part of the problem is that reporters are conflating the number of movies being made with the numbers of movies that would be made if there wasn't a streaming video business. Many of those films that observers argue should have gone to a theater first wouldn't even exist without the streaming business. And the money that streamers spend on movies is happening because overall they provide value to the streamers when they have a limited theatrical run.

A lot of these conversations are cultural and related to how reporters and industry people feel about the movie business. But nostalgia or a love of a shared cultural experience doesn't mean that it is a good business model in 2024.

ODDS AND SODS
* Actress, comedian, and star of the series Hacks, Hannah Einbinder has a new comedy special coming net month. Hannah Einbinder: Everything Must Go is set to premiere June 13th on Max.

TWEET OF THE DAY

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND THIS WEEKEND

FRIDAY, MAY 31ST:
* A Part Of You (Netflix)
* Celebrity Family Food Battle Series Premiere (The Roku Channel)
* Frog And Toad Season Two Premiere (Apple TV+)
* Gold Rush: Parker's Trail Season Premiere (Discovery)
* Here We Go (Britbox)
* How To Ruin Love: The Proposal Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Jim Henson: Idea Man (Disney+)
* Raising Voices Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Stopmotion (Shudder)
* The Famous Five Series Premiere (Hulu)
* The Great Lillian Hall (HBO)
* The Outlaws Season Three Premiere (Prime Video)
* Tòkunbọ (Netflix)

SATURDAY, JUNE 1ST, 2024:
Deadly Waters With Captain Lee Series Premiere (Oxygen)
For Love & Honey (Hallmark)
Mind Your Business Series Premiere (Bounce)
The Life and Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson (Lifetime)
Too Old For Fairy Tales 2 (Netflix)
Trixie Motel: Drag Me Home Series Premiere (HGTV)
Vacation House Rules Season Premiere (HGTV)

SUNDAY, JUNE 2ND, 2024:
Billy The Kid Season Premiere (MGM+)
Celebrity IOU Season Premiere (HGTV)
Couples Therapy Season Premiere (Showtime)
Fixer Upper: The Lakehouse Series Premiere (Magnolia)
Gypsy Rose: Life After Lockup Series Premiere (Lifetime)
Mayor Of Kingstown Season Premiere (Paramount+)
May The Best Wedding Win (UP tv)
Ren Faire Series Premiere (HBO)
Secrets & Spies: A Nuclear Game (CNN)
Signs Of A Psychopath Season Premiere (Investigation Discovery)
The Real Housewives Of Dubai Season Premiere (Bravo)
Violent Earth Series Premiere (CNN)
World Eats Bread Series Premiere (NatGeo)

MONDAY, JUNE 3RD, 2024:
American Ninja Warriors Season Premiere (NBC)
Battle On The Beach Season Premiere (HGTV)
Below Deck Mediterranean Season Premiere (Netflix)
Deadly Influence: The Social Media Murders (Investigation Discovery)
Erased: WW2's Heroes Of Color (NatGeo)
Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Up (Lifetime)
Holy Marvels With Dennis Quaid Series Premiere (History)
Name That Tune Season Premiere (Fox)
The Real Red Tails (NatGeo)
Unexpected Season Premiere (TLC)
Who The (Bleep) Did I Marry? Season Premiere (Investigation Discovery)

SEE YOU ON MONDAY!