Hot List: The Truth Isn’t Pretty, But It’s True
If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.— Oscar Wilde
Four things I maybe shouldn’t say but need to be said:
FAST is now F#%”ed Ad-supported Streaming TV. While deep down you always knew the Andy Griffith single show feed was little more than a YouTube channel dressed up for TV audiences— its value to the industry was really to drive a thousand spikes into the pay TV model coffin and show people you can have more and better by just giving your attention. The problem is, back in the day when one or two hit shows kept people from churning it meant revenue retention for all the channels in a bundle. Now that we’re in a programmatic world, the long tail is exposed for what it is — a collection of niche programming watched by fewer and fewer people who will eat ads along the way. More here.
The JIC mid year currency certification is out this week with another reminder that some of TV advertising is a corporate scam—fueled by a monopoly using program based, panel based proxies which are as outdated as Andy Griffith. Brands can use exact ad from iSpot or big data for local systems using Comscore and yet agencies and publishers will default to the antiquated monopoly—not because it’s more accurate but because it’s easier to stay the course. (See our special report!!!)
Meanwhile Meta will optimize its ad feeds to me because it knows I hate this extra 10-15 lbs of belly fat - and so I’m doomed for ads from GLP1, military exercise apps and t-shirts to cover it all up just because I lingered on the ad for a second too long. Streaming doesn’t have that responsive intellect yet. Thank God or my wife will join in the chorus in my head “I mean you could try it” when I just want to stream The Bear for inspiration to make my own thousand calorie concoctions before bed. Also The Bear isn’t a comedy, is that an Emmys scam?
Can we stop pretending like our children aren’t getting totally screwed over by the algorithmic casino in everyone’s pockets. When is the last time you saw someone under 18 hold eye contact for longer than a few minutes without a break to take a dopamine hit off some phone-based distraction? Maybe it’s me, but seems like ingesting horrific news in between selfie videos, cute animals and dance clips probably doesn’t allow us as a society to digest and react appropriately to the world’s real issues.
Anyway — enough about that! We have much better quality, more optimistic commentary and insights below from our TVREV cadre of great Americans. If you only read one, be sure to check out Alan’s WIR—it hits the nail on the head. [And if you will be at the IAB Video Leadership Summit on Tuesday, check out his keynote there!]
— Jason Damata
TVREV ORIGINALS
