It’s 2024. Mobile is king, not TV

Our 3 hours of TV per day is less than half our daily media consumption.

Watching isn’t just TV anymore. It’s TikTok, YouTube and other social media, live streaming, dedicated sports apps, video based learning, pirated video and even porn. Consequently, traditional providers, like Disney or NBC now have hundreds or thousands of ‘on screen’ competitors, not a dozen or two. Connections are cheap, global and two way. Instead of big media companies offering a few live channels, they have become huge video repositories, with ten thousand or more simultaneous offerings.?

Around the world, video is now watched mostly on portable screens, not on walls in theaters or homes. The once powerful gatekeepers, national broadcasters, major studios and cable providers are being engulfed by global tech giants as streaming viewership keeps rising. Every media distributor is in the midst of a once in a lifetime disruption, from TV as the king of media to TV as just another internet service. TV is no longer our main source of entertainment. It must compete against our phone apps, social media, games and live streams for our attention.

The internet has taught us to demand quantity, quality and on-demand access, from YouTube's free offerings to Netflix's premium shows. Thanks to increasing users and profits, Netflix may soon overtake Disney as the world’s largest creator of premium video. By 2024, Netflix is projected to have 250 million users, dwarfing the two largest US cable services, Charter and Comcast, with a combined total of just 28 million.?

Netflix and YouTube have established themselves as the kings of their respective realms - premium and free video. Legacy media will adapt to the new world of streaming, by modernizing ads, leveraging franchises and smarter pricing.?

Next: Part 8. The digital first era