Thank You Netflix -- for HELPING Traditional TV !!

Good Day! This is the McCormack Media Minute!

If I hear one more time that "Traditional TV is Dead" because of SVOD Platforms like Hulu or Netflix -- I'm going to choke someone!  Most recently, Scott Mathius published an article called "Television Advertising is Dying" on LinkedIN.  

Seriously?  I'm SO tired of these articles full of over-blown exaggerations of the truth and fear-driven posts full of data-less hyperbole.  

The fact is this:  This year's television broadcast upfront was one of the most well-attended up fronts in recent history.  Nielsen and other reputable sources for data are quoting all kinds of revenue growth projections for broadcast and cable TV in this upfront marketplace (with and without the Olympics in the mix).   Additionally -- advertisers are still using the mass medium of broadcast TV (and cable) to reach large audiences and to drive narrowcasting on digital platforms.  Period.  End of story.  Nothing is dying.  Is it changing?  Sure its changing!!  But traditional TV is changing too.  And TV is embracing the notion of their OWN SVOD platforms!

As a matter of fact -- SVOD viewership seems to be HELPING (not hurting) the likes of many pieces of great long-form content that haven't been able to break through the clutter on TV but are gaining awareness and traction on SVOD platforms.

Case in point was "Breaking Bad."  A show no one was watching (at all!) on AMC and that got its first real audience on Netflix.  I don't need to tell you the stats on that series.  You know how the story ends there.  

Due entirely to the "Suggestions for You" algorithm on Netflix, I discovered a show called "Maron" that apparently has been on the air, on IFC since 2013.  Ever heard of it?  Didn't think so. I hadn't either.    I was blindly unaware of Marc Maron, his hugely popular pod-cast or his show that had been on IFC for 2 years!  

As a matter of fact, turns out -- my good friend Michael Jamin is the show-runner on the show!!!  I see his name, call him up and say "Maron is great!!!  we love it!!  We watched two seasons back to back!!"  His response was "well....its not gaining an audience very quickly on IFC."  

Which made me realize that "Maron" may very well benefit from the Breaking Bad syndrome -- where Neflix "suggests it,"  viewers sample it on their own time and then become a fan and find the new episodes (Thursdays at 10 on IFC) on TV!!

Without Netflix I never would have known about Breaking Bad OR Maron and I'm grateful to Netflix for acting like a promotional tool for great content where new episodes will air on traditional TV!!  Now -- I will say that traditional TV should be using the "suggestions for you" algorithm somehow.  I'm sure they have enough data to do it but it would likely help a great deal more than the way they have been advertising new shows until now.

So thanks a bunch Netflix!  I love how you use my data!!  Have at it!!

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