Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Monday, December 20th, 2021

People today are working for the Christmas break...

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, December 20th, 2021. I'm writing this from the Twin Cities, where AllYourScreens HQ is awfully busy for the Monday before Christmas.

My apologies for the lateness of today's newsletter. Today has been filled with interviews, as everyone tries to wrap up business so they can get away early for the holidays.

THE CASE FOR NICHE STREAMERS
If you listen to media industry conventional wisdom, then "scale" is the most important determiner of financial success in the streaming world. You need to be as big as possible, with hundreds of millions of subscribers and global reach. 

The truth is that the streaming world isn't any different than any other industry. Yes, scale is nice and big companies find it easier to bully competitors and raise prices without the worry that customers will go somewhere else. But you can also make a lot of money focusing exclusively on a narrow niche of the customer base and then turning them into superfans. 

This is a lot of the reason I enjoy talking to executives at smaller streaming services. It's fascinating to hear how they see their mission and learn how they are working to engage with their potential customer base.

I recently spoke with Jason Wise, CEO of SOMM TV, a streaming service that focuses on food and wine enthusiasts. On the face of it, the idea sounds a bit crazy. But when you examine the market a bit, you realize this is a niche that has lots of disposable income. And they aren't being served by Netflix, Disney+ or other mass market services. Being a streaming service that creates content for these viewers (and figuring out ways to connect them to other fans and wine-related businesses) is not just useful. You can see how this idea could also be quite profitable.

Here is a link to the entire interview, and here is a snippet to give you a sense of our conversation. Jason was very open about the challenges of the business, but he was also a great advocate for the idea:

You mentioned the pandemic, and I'm wondering if COVID made it easier or harder to get access to people?  Because the restaurant industry has changed a lot during the pandemic. And sometimes now people are more open to stuff that they wouldn't have been open to before COVID because they don't know what the future brings for their brand or for the restaurant. And they're exploring any way they can to get that word of mouth out there.

When the pandemic hit - I'm talking right at the twilight - we barely made it out of Argentina. We were filming a fourth SOMM film, which comes out in September. And right when we got back, it went from, it was kind of a funny joke that this might be a thing to, oh, my God. This was shutting down countries within two weeks while we were in Argentina. But we were able to get back. And we started following a very famous restaurant tour in Boulder, who ended up being the key player in getting the independent restaurant coalition founded to save restaurants. We followed that process as it unfolded and COVID progressed.

So it's an interesting thing that you asked me that question. We were sort of on the ground level of this since moment one. And in the process. I think what it did is it made it hard to create lots of content. What it what it did, though, is it made it so we could shoot some things that we never would have been able to otherwise. For instance, there is a film on the platform on the Rothschild family and the Rothschilds are an untouchable family and chateau that has never given access to outsiders in the history of their existence. And you know why if you know the history of the Rothschilds. But because of COVID, they were all home, everybody was there. And they couldn't go anywhere. They were on lockdown in France. And so when I got in touch with them, I said, if I can get a camera person there, if we could make it safe, and if we could do all of these myriad things that had involved insurance in France, could we film this? And they sort of said, "Yes," and they've never all been in one place.

So COVID was a very weird mixed blessing. We were able to get tremendous access, and people were at home, they were in a place. So as long as we could get there and find a way to do it safely, we were able to produce some incredible content.  But restaurants moving forward - it will never be the same. So I think one thing we tried to do was document how that's changed and be a part of whatever this new situation is, especially in big cities. It's been a complicated and weird 18 months or whatever.

THE ANKLER: A NEWSLETTER THAT JUST KEEPS ON GIVING
There was a special edition of The Ankler newsletter over the weekend, featuring a guest column from new Ankler Media head Janice Min. I especially found this paragraph interesting:

One of the things that makes The Ankler such a treasure is its fierce sense of independence. Richard is ruthlessly honest, telling truths no one else dares to say out loud. He can be laugh out loud funny. Almost every single person who subscribes to this newsletter opens it, reads it, and forwards it along to so many. To that end, through careful curation, we promise not to pollute your inbox, or waste your time. Which sounds like a good place for me to stop.

The comments about being ruthlessly honest are ironic, given that we still don't know whether Tatiana Siegel, the executive film editor of The Hollywood Reporter, is still joining Min at Ankler Media (as the NY Times reported) or is headed instead to Rolling Stone (as Variety reported on Thursday). Not to be picky, but if you're touting your unflinching honesty, you might want to start with your own business. 

THERE ISN'T ROOM FOR ANOTHER STREAMING MEDIA PLAYER
NScreen Media's Colin Dixon writes that while companies ranging from Walmart to Xiaomi are rolling out new streaming sticks, the reality is that there isn't room in the market for another streaming media player. In large part because companies such as Amazon and Roku sell their devices at almost a loss. And they do that because the real money is in the ad market:

Smaller SMP providers like Xiaomi are very restricted in how much they can charge. They won’t sell many devices if they charge significantly more than Roku and Fire TV. Mi TV Stick’s $50 price is probably the most it can charge and see meaningful sales. The Chinese company sold 4.2 million Mi TV Sticks in Q4 2020. Assuming it makes a 5% profit on each device, it earned $10 million on revenue of $210 million.

What is more, the company cannot develop a robust ad business like Roku and Fire TV because it must cede the ad business to one of its competitors. Here is why.

A new entrant in the SMP market is faced with the classic chicken-or-egg problem. All the popular apps must be available for consumers to buy the device. But the popular app providers focus on the most popular platforms – Roku, Fire TV, Samsung Tizen, Android TV, etc. – and ignore those with small market shares.

To solve the chicken-or-egg problem, a manufacturer must use a popular existing TV OS, like Roku OS, Fire TV, or Android TV, to power their device. Doing so means the popular apps are all available, but it comes with a heavy price. The device maker loses control of the interface and the opportunity to establish a robust ad business. Instead, it helps competitors earn more ad revenue allowing them to keep selling devices at cut-rate prices.

Xiaomi and others are boxed into a low-margin device sales business.

ODDS AND SODS
* Season twelve of Bravo's The Real Housewives Of New Jersey premieres on Tuesday, February 1st.

* Cinedigm announced on Monday that they have signed a rights-in and rights-out streaming deal with Shout! Factory. Through this agreement, Cinedigm will provide Shout with over 40 films and TV series for the digital entertainment streaming service Shout! Factory TV. Such hits include The English Teacher, 22 Bullets, and Wolfblood Season 1. In addition, Cinedigm will receive over 120 Shout Factory film and TV series to use across popular streaming channels such as Fandor, Screambox and Bloody Disgusting TV.

* Boat Rocker has finalized a deal to purchase a minority equity stake in TeaTime Pictures, founded by actor and producer Dakota Johnson and former Netflix executive Ro Donnelly.

* Oklahoma State launches subscription streaming service OSU Max.

* 14 top streaming and TV executives on the most important thing they learned in 2021.

TWEET OF THE DAY

IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A LAST-MINUTE GIFT
It's been a very stressful couple of years and I think most of us are feeling a bit on edge. That's why I'm recommending that you pick up the Kirsten Powers book "Saving Grace: Speak Your Truth, Stay Centered And Learn To Co-Exist With People Who Drive You Nuts."

It's a book that talks a lot about the struggles to keep your sanity when it feels as if you're sometimes surrounded by insane people. And how you can learn to not get swept up in the random anger and trolling that seems to be the focus of a lot of our interactions in 2021. It's a thoughtful book that will help you find your happy place:

Grace is good for the world, but it’s also really, really good for you. It keeps you from giving away your power or becoming that which you oppose. When you reject the revenge, aggression, domination, and retaliation that are the hallmarks of our culture and respond with grace, you bring peace into the world. You bring peace into your heart.

WHAT'S NEW FOR MONDAY
Here's a quick rundown of all the new stuff premiering today on TV and streaming:

Candy Cane Candidate (Lifetime)
Dynasty Season Five Premiere (The CW)
Elite Short Stories: Samuel Omar (Netflix)
Holiday Baking Championship Season Eight Finale (Food)
Miracles Across 125th Street (VH1)
100 Day Dream Home Season Premiere (HGTV)
Reopening Night (HBO)
The Secrets Of Christmas: Revealed (Tubi)
Tough Love With Hillary Farr Series Premiere (HGTV)

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

SEE YOU TUESDAY! 

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