How To Create Value Over the Next Decade?

In 2006 when I started WatchMojo I saw an opening in the marketplace to create programming to fill the vacuum created in the middle of the content pyramid as traditional media rights holders kept their super premium content offline, given the lack of economic incentive. I recently discussed that on an episode of Business Battleground: the New World Order. Today that snazzy concept would resemble this:

Others would analogously break this down as head, shoulder, torso and long tail, from a 2007 era presentation:

And 2010 TechCrunch article:

Video's role then was to give platforms like MySpace and YouTube higher-premium content that could lift CPMs, while giving premium publishers with little video more high-value inventory to sell ads against, from a 2008-era presentation:

Netflix's success in SVOD & YouTube's dominance in AVOD have changed the landscape for good. Sure, they are competing against one another for mindshare and watch time, but there's ample room for each in their own lane. They're actually garnering value from the Establishment.

Today, clearly that pyramid is no longer representative of the landscape, which has changed as media companies are blowing up their models to go direct-to-consumer as a result of the $75 billion TV advertising finally breaking the dam and finally moving “online.” 

However, advances in technology, the proliferation of distribution platforms and the convergence of screens (OTT, desktop, tablets, smart phones, OOH) is creating a New World Order where the value of a viewer will converge regardless of 

i) what content (super premium, premium, consumer, some UGC) 

ii) they watch on which screen.

This is why big media is shifting their business online, finally. 

As content creators continue to spend heavily on content creation…

… the aggregate dollars in traditional remain massive.

And as such, on top of an already tightly-held ownership of TV assets

media companies are now merging like crazy in a period of consolidation:

So going back to that earlier breakdown:

For that reason, while it’s unclear how this will pan out, it’s clear that there is a New World Order. If I had to update what the paradigm looks like, today I would say this is the opportunity:

There is a new, analogous gap and opportunity whereby some platforms will have 

• massive audiences but lack premium content, 
• while others will have ample “super premium” but need both 

a) more “premium content” to add frequency & quantity/volume as well as 

b) marketing & promotion. 

That little content pyramid served as my guiding light building WatchMojo into what it has become... and I now use this New World Order to help me plan the next decade. The reality is traditional media will destroy a lot of value before they create any new value.

How would you play this New World Order to create value? For more details and context, watch: Business Battleground: the New World Order. For another way to look at the opportunities, read our breakdown of Platform/Format fit.