Veteran media industry consultant Ed Hersh returns to my podcast platform to explore the multiple seismic changes shaking the Documentary / Unscripted sector and what producers need to know. We discuss how the term ‘Perfect Storm‘ captures the confluence of: Covid impacts, The shift by viewers from channels to direct-to-consumer (DTC) platforms like Netflix and …
The U.S. Pay TV distribution footprint is forecast to shrink by a record 2.5 million subscribers in Q2 2020. This follows a previous record drop of 2 million subscribers in Q1 2020. In the past 12 months, 6.5+ million customers have cut the cord. The forecast loss for Full Year 2020 is 8-9 million subscribers. …
Quibi is a dud, as I predicted. Even with a free 90-day trial, the Quibi app has been installed by less than 3.5 million consumers. It ranks #125 among free iPhone app downloads. That’s behind Duolingo, the language app where I recently failed to learn much Swedish (“Hej, hej!”). Founder and Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg …
Monthly News Highlights is a co-publication with Sunny Side of the Doc. Netflix takes Wildlife genre to the the dark side TIGER KING: Murder, Mayhem and Madness is a True Crime docuseries that pulls its punches on animal cruelty as it dives into the outsize characters and high stakes of Big Cat world. It is emerging …
In these hectic early weeks of the crisis, I thought that it would be helpful to take some time out to reflect on the seismic changes that our industry is experiencing. Veteran consultant Ed Hersh joins me in a pod-versation to provide a cautious snapshot for our colleagues. We focus on three questions: Is there …
Nielsen published a fascinating report yesterday concerning the increased media consumption of U.S. consumers during our Coronavirus shutdown. The analysis is based on a study of Total Usage of Television (TUT) during two severe weather crises: Hurricane Harvey in Houston (2017) New York’s ‘Snow-pocalypse‘ (2016) HOUSTON TUT usage in Houston was up 56% versus the …
YouTube’s 15th Birthday: A Growing Industry Power-house. For months, I’ve been hearing about YouTube commissions for documentaries and specials. Very respectable US and UK producers are the beneficiaries. Generous budgets are in the $750,000 – $1.5 million range. Topics have included the youth-targeted categories of pop culture and music celebrity bio-docs. YouTube’s head of Originals, Susanne Daniels …
The 2020 PGA Awards broadcast the industry’s acceptance of the booming documentary category as a peer with even the most popular, binge-worthy scripted series. There was a surprise winner in the PGA’s prestigious Outstanding Producer of Televised or Streamed Motion Pictures category It was 1895 Films for Apollo: Missions to the Moon. APOLLO’s competitors were four …