BITES // 03.07.24 // THE FUTURE OF TV
Every month we collect six of the best pieces of content published on the web and share them with you because we believe that the most extraordinary thinking is inspired by looking to unexpected places. BITES is a reading list for those who want to bring a little of the outside in.
OVERVIEW -
Americans are more likely to say they prefer TV at 44% compared to the 34% that said movies. Legacy media businesses such as broadcasters, publishers, and traditional advertising channels that historically were able to extract a significant share of value from media profit chains aren’t adapting as fast to this evolving ecosystem to survive. Meanwhile, emerging players like Netflix, Max, Paramount+, and more are defending their competitive moat in an increasingly crowded environment.
1. SPORTS TURN LIVING ROOMS INTO STADIUMS
Streamers are sweeping up sports rights across the board. This paradigm shift is driven by the leagues looking to find young audiences where they are. Profit-seeking streamers have found that recruiting sports rights is one of the quickest growth plays. Amazon’s Thursday Night Football accounts for 25% of all internet traffic on Thursday nights. Warner Bros. Discovery launched a sports tier on Max that’ll show games from the MLB, NBA, and NHL. NBCUniversal hosted 51 live sporting events including the NFL, Premier League, and Big Ten on Peacock in September. Paramount Global says its NFL games are one of the key drivers of subscriber growth at Paramount+. And Apple’s exclusive hosting of MLS has been a huge success. In other big sports news, Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Disney’s ESPN plan to join forces to create a new sports streaming service, and each will own a third. It’ll be a stand-alone app, but subscribers will also be able to bundle it with Hulu, Max, and Disney+. The service, which is scheduled to launch by fall, doesn’t have a price or a name yet. The joint venture, co-owned by the three companies, will bring together sports programming from ESPN, ABC, TNT, FS1, and more acronyms than you can count on two hands. Customers will be able to watch games from the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, FIFA, Formula 1, and nearly every other major sports league, roughly 85% of the sports rights market.
2. NASCAR’S FULL SPEED FINDS SUCCESS
For those in the stock car racing world who have been anxiously awaiting NASCAR’s “Drive to Survive” moment, they got it. “Full Speed,” the new Netflix docuseries focused on NASCAR’s 2023 Cup Series playoffs. The key ingredient to the show is authenticity, this is where “Full Speed” really shines, because what cameras captured and what producers chose to show of the drivers’ experiences isn’t some blown-out-of-proportion drama. They do well at showing an accurate reflection of what happens in life and on the track. Denny Hamlin is the star of the show. He allowed Netflix to get more in-depth with him and his life than any other driver. Viewers have taken to the show. It cracked the top-five most-watched shows list for the United States and Canada just 48 hours after the release. The show also came out at the perfect time. Now, new fans, and maybe fans who haven’t watched in a while, will be more interested in NASCAR. Momentum is important in racing and in marketing, and Full Speed gives NASCAR all of the momentum.
3. NETFLIX POWERS JAPAN WITH MANGA ADAPTATIONS
Anime and manga adaptations are skyrocketing in popularity around the world and Netflix is ensuring that it becomes the go-to platform for glossy, big-budget adaptations. The rise in popularity can be traced to a mix of factors, including Netflix’s massive global subscriber base, modern audiences’ comfort with subtitles, and, of course, the fact that the IP already has huge fandoms built over decades. With the era of the superhero seemingly on the way out, the heroics and scale of anime and manga could make the genre a worthy blockbuster successor. Shows like Yu Yu Hakusho, One Piece, and Alice in Borderland have become monster hits on the platform, ranking as the most-watched shows in dozens of countries upon their release. Netflix also kicked off one of their most popular anima’s darling Blue Eye Samurai, continuing to lean into the anime craze. Current adaptations are embracing the aesthetic of anime in live-action, made possible by advances in VFX creating some wild, but accurate imagery.
4. TIKTOK IS BECOMING THE NEW TV
In recent years, TV has become a second screen for Gen Z viewers as more of the generation turn to streaming and online platforms for entertainment. In an ever-changing digital landscape, cable networks and streaming services are increasingly relying on social media and online platforms to stay engaged with Gen Z. TikTok has been home to dance challenges, food creations, makeup transformations, financial advice, and increasingly movies and television shows. If you search the phrase “full movies on tiktok,” it brings up content with more than 100 million total views, while “full episode” also brings up videos with millions of views. Paramount uploaded the entire 107-minute film Mean Girls to TikTok in 23 parts. It was controversial though because they released it during the strike and content shared on social media had no defined way of determining residual pay for actors and writers. In August, Peacock made the full pilot episode of its half-hour comedy series, Killing It, available on TikTok ahead of the second season premiere having it be uploaded into 5 parts. The effort marks the first time a streaming service brought a full episode of one of its scripted series to TikTok, and it could be the future of TV as young generations continue to scope out entertainment in virtual spaces they live in. With the introduction of 15 minute videos and creators making reality TV on TikTok by way of real life events for them will only help grow TikTok’s entertainment presence.
5. MR. BEAST NEARS A TV DEAL WITH AMAZON
MrBeast is reportedly on the verge of closing a $100 million TV show deal with Amazon Studios. MrBeast’s team began pitching a TV show to various streaming services last week with the deal “now closing,” with Head of Amazon & MGM Studios Jennifer Salke spearheading it. The show will follow the path laid out by his YouTube content: it’ll be an unscripted competition series, presumably one where the winner will walk away with a nice chunk of change and/or some other high-end prize. The show’s first episode will reportedly air first on MrBeast’s YouTube channel before airing on Prime Video. He’s the most followed YouTube influencer with his channel having 233 million subscribers and bringing in over 2 billion views per month.
6. STREAMING REMAKES MOVIES INTO SHOWS
The concept of movies being recut into miniseries isn’t entirely new. Since the 1970s, films have been re-edited into versions made for TV viewing but it is becoming more popular. Last year, two movies were re-edited and re-released as high-profile streaming series, blurring the line between the two formats. Faraway Downs is actually a re-edited and expanded version of Baz Luhrmann’s 2008 epic, Australia that premiered as a six-part series on Hulu. BlackBerry, directed by Matt Johnson, premiered as a film early last year and then was cut up and expanded into a three-part series on AMC in the US six months later. This gives the under-the-radar indies and box office bombs a second chance at becoming hits on the small screen and gives streamers a cheap way to license “new” titles. Younger audiences are more likely to binge hours of a show than watch a long movie or weekly shows, 53% of 13–39 year olds are binge watching shows rather than a weekly tune in. It premiered as a six-part series on Hulu.
TAKEAWAY-
Despite the many TV networks and streaming services, in 2023 there was very little new and interesting content available to watch. The Writers Guild of America (WGA), the Screen Actors Guild, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strikes had effectively shut down television and film production for the better part of the year and contributed to the dearth of content that was available. With the strikes over, and with understandings hammered out (on many critical issues, including about how AI can and cannot be used in content creation, we can all look forward to new, exciting, high-quality content.
