Last week Nielsen released The Gauge, a very useful pie chart that captures the total time Americans spent watching cable TV, broadcast TV and streaming services. Digging deeper reveals the seismic shift that our industry is experiencing. The Gauge: Here it is… Let’s dig into the findings: Cable + Broadcast: 64% Cable (39%) & Broadcast …
Story of the Month: Investors Target Unscripted Production. There’s a frenzy of investment in unscripted production // Wall Street Journal. New SVOD’s fail to understand that success depends on streaming addiction // Lightshed Partners. Netflix Australia: Revenues surge but avoids taxes and local production // The Age + Documentary Business. Audiences want more documentaries in streaming libraries …
Two articles on the state of the industry caught my attention this week: A brilliant analysis of a key success factor for streamers from Lightshed Partners. And a ho-hum Wall Street Journal story that nonetheless captures the current investment frenzy for Unscripted productions. Nat Geo also shared an updated INCLUSION STANDARDS. Scroll down for the …
The rise of the streamers has an overall negative impact on global spending on television production. Why? Channels greenlight 200-600 hours / year to populate their linear, 7-day schedules with original programs. Streamers buy enough new programs to attract and retain subscribers. The following Australian example is revealing… if you accept my back-of-envelope calculations and …
Three years ago, I wrote here: “Discovery must be in play after AT&T’s recent takeover of Time Warner with its Warner Bros, HBO and Turner programming assets.” (Discovery for Sale, June 20, 2018) ATT confirmed today that it will spin off its renamed WarnerMedia unit into Discovery Inc. My Initial Takeaways: 1.Discovery Transformed A leading …
The U.S. premium SVOD market continued its unstoppable growth in Q1 2021: Total subscriptions were up 24% year-over-year (YoY). And +64% since 1Q 2019! Disruption: However, according to Antenna researcher Jonathan Carson, “the category has experienced a staggering amount of disruption in the 18 months since Disney+’s launch.” Netflix losing dominance Two years ago, Netflix …
Congrats to MY OCTOPUS TEACHER‘s extended family for winning the Best Documentary Feature award at last night’s Oscars. I write “family” because it took a deeply committed and close-knit group of friends and colleagues to bring Craig Foster‘s unexpected subject from chilly False Bay to Netflix, and then to Hollywood’s #1 stage: How It …
by Dan Salerno. Discovery continues to go “all in” with Discovery+. Announcements of new premieres are rolling out almost daily, with four more last week alone. One announcement, the upcoming Discovery+ special, Crikey! It’s a Baby! prompted us to check in with Animal Planet. Three months since the much publicized launch, what is coming, what is …