The Not-So-Secret Recipe to Disrupt TV (Op-Ed)

[Guest]

For all of those startups hoping to disrupt the TV industry, what will be the real cost?

The Not-So-Secret Recipe to Disrupt TV (Op-Ed) : Read more

 

[agnickolov]

In order to "kill" an industry, what you need to do is to push it into a downward trend and keep the pressure until it collapses on its own. In order to do that, you need to provide a viable and more appealing alternative where the money goes. It'll eventually reach a new equilibrium, but it'll no longer be as prominent so it'll no longer be fashionable or as profitable to try to "kill" it again.

 

[williamf3000]

It does not take 8 minutes of ads per 30 minutes of entrainment! That is the old model. A properly targeted 30 second ad is much better than 8 minutes of random crap. This is being figured out and quickly. The quality of targeted ads is on an exponential upward trend. 3 years ago, nothing that was "targeted" to me, was actually for me. Now I have something like 25% to 35% of all online ads that I can tell are totally spot on.

Comcast and all its brethren are a dying breed. The technical specs of a Roku or Apple TV already do almost everything that a cable box can do. It is just a matter of pushing he content onto these devices. With these kind of devices and the way that they work means that there is very little need for customer service reps or installation personal. The cable companies should focus on providing bandwidth and dump the old model because it IS on its way out.

Seriously, "most startups are clueless about the TV industry." This is just sensational and intended to get people like me to comment. Right? I hope so. Otherwise, you are completely out of touch with reality. Who are you talking about? Hulu? Uh no, it was created by a massive media company... Universal I believe. Netflix? Humm.. though it has had one major misstep, it is here to stay and innovates like crazy. Amazon? You must be joking! This juggernaut is the Walmart of the 21st Century, but with a much larger reach that Walmart could ever have hoped for. So who are you talking about? Pretty much everyone else that I can think of is a niche player anyway, which is exactly what you said they should be doing.

So there you have it. Either you are a lobbiest for cable providers or you don't live on this planet. In 10 years, cable providers will no longer exist in the form that we know them today. Paid TV will still exist, but the market will be at least 50% smaller and the packages will be streamlined to offer what people actually want and not the 300 BS channels that currently exist.

 

[icemunk]

As you will note, currently the best shows on "television" are developed by HBO, and Netflix, both subsription based providers. Cable is going to continue a downward trend as more people flock to the internet based providers, especially with the new generation of smart tv's, playstation/xbox, etc. The old behemoths of entertain need to get on the bandwagon as soon as possible, otherwise they are going to hermorage marketshare. Subscription based consumption is a great model, and will continue to grow. Advertising based shows will also be around, and we already see it moving to the web more and more each day. TV shows will always be around, its just that the traditional cable TV is what is dying, there will always be a steady stream of content suppliers.

 

[Nam Lam]

Let's be honest, on a TV people set their favourites. Who truly watches these commercials when they can just jump to MTV and see something more awesome for the duration of the 30second com.break. These ad companies are paying Stations insane amounts of money for which they THINK viewers are watching live. Stream it off their website and slap in a 10-second commercial. People can catchup/stream as MUCH as they like, at the cost of bandwidth. But hey, this is CERTAIN. People aren't going to walk away for 10 seconds, its not enuff time to even get a drink from the fridge for most people. Torrents and what not have made the world a more CONVENIENT place. And the commercial industry and broadcasting stations should REALIZE this important aspect of life and change with the god damn times. Files have been readily for ages now; it is only that it is mainstream that these people are starting to care at their revenue losses when they expect people to impose laws to make their lives more CONVENIENT.

 

[velocityg4]

At $70 billion that equates to about $60 a month per household in the US. That's a heck of a lot cheaper than the current cable model with advertising. Since many of these shows are shown around the world that number drops a heck of a lot more.

Plus it wouldn't really cost that much. As all the crap programming and crap networks would crumble away. Stuff that is getting supported by the current bundle model.

One of the big problems with our system is the Nielsen ratings system. How accurate can the system be? It only gets ratings from the kind of people that could care less about their privacy or really need the money.

Another problem as pointed out is recorded shows or shows streamed online from sites like Hulu not really counting. Especially when coupled with bad timeslots. Such as Firefly or Dollhouse. They were scheduled for Friday nights. That's when the target audience is out on the town. Of course they are going to do bad a fail. How well would Desperate Housewives do if on Saturday mornings?

Personally I'd rather pay a subscription model for the few new shows that are actually good and interesting documentaries only. So not just an a la cart network model. But an a la cart TV Show model. Then have something like Netflix or Amazon Prime for all the old shows.

 

[RooD]

I like ads that target me like on Hulu, it kind of let's me know new things I want and then I can research them... I don't need AARP or tampax pearl or the new power rangers toys or the drugs they push on TV. Tech stuff and cars please

 

[superman21]

I'm thinking advertisers and networks need to work more on product placement in the shows themselves. Not quite in-your-face like a guy holding up a can and saying "drink Coke!" though; more like conspicuously placed products, being used and enjoyed, etc. I've noticed this a lot lately with Apple products and NBC programming. To me, this seems like the best avenue to explore, as the advertising is happening regardless of when the program is actually being watched. As an added bonus, this leaves creators with even more of a time slot to fill with programming rather than commercial time.

Like anything else, it won't be perfect and it will take time, but I think it's at least a good place to start looking for a better way to spend advertising dollars and still deliver quality products (programming and goods) to the consumer.

 

[thethirdrace]

The recipe is simple: have different tiers to distribute your content.

Take the prices with a grain of salt as we don't all have the same prices around the world...

[Tier 1]
Where: Movie theaters
Price: 15$/movie
Duration: 2 months exclusivity

[Tier 2]
Where: Premium movie channels
Price: 8$/movie for the first 3 months, 5$/movie after that
Duration: 6 months

[Tier 3]
Where: Premium streaming AAA (Movies + TV shows)
Price: 100$/month to stream any movie (older than 8 months) or TV show as much as you like
Duration: Infinite as long as you pay your monthly fee

[Tier 4]
Where: Premium streaming AA (Movies + TV shows)
Price: 80$/month to stream any movie (older than 8 months) or TV show for a maximum of twice a week. You could buy a movie for 5$ and a TV show episode for 1$
Duration: Infinite as long as you pay your monthly fee

[Tier 5]
Where: Premium streaming A (Movies + TV shows)
Price: 70$/month to stream any movie (older than 8 months) or TV show for a maximum of once a week. You could buy a movie for 5$ and a TV show episode for 1$
Duration: Infinite as long as you pay your monthly fee

[Tier 6]
Where: Streaming AAA (Movies + TV shows)
Price: 60$/month to stream any movie (older than 18 months) or TV show (older than a month) as much as you like
Duration: Infinite as long as you pay your monthly fee

[Tier 7]
Where: Streaming AA (Movies + TV shows)
Price: 50$/month to stream any movie (older than 18 months) or TV show (older than a month) for a maximum of twice a week. You could buy a movie for 5$ and a TV show episode for 1$
Duration: Infinite as long as you pay your monthly fee

[Tier 8]
Where: Streaming A (Movies + TV shows)
Price: 40$/month to stream any movie (older than 18 months) or TV show (older than a month) for a maximum of once a week. You could buy a movie for 5$ and a TV show episode for 1$
Duration: Infinite as long as you pay your monthly fee

[Tier 9]
Where: Streaming (Movies + TV shows)
Price: 30$/month to stream any movie (older than 24 months) or TV show (older than 6 months) for as much as you like
Duration: Infinite as long as you pay your monthly fee

[Tier 10]
Where: Streaming (Movies + TV shows)
Price: 20$/month to stream any movie (older than 36 months) or TV show (older than 12 months) for as much as you like


It's really not that complicated. You give a tier for each 10$ with the last being an all you can eat on older stuff. The durations specified are required to continue the revenue "model" currently in place and the limit on viewing is about protecting the DVD sales and the streaming "buy" options. Some would point out that the last tier at 20$ is more than twice the price of Netflix, but you have to understand you would get absolutely every movie and shows available in your country, which is much more than what Netflix offers.

 

[xtec]

A $100 a month is why people are dropping cable and satellite! My limit is $60 a month and that would be for tier #3. If not there are a huge number of other forms of entertainment out there. Take video games for example I can get 100 hours of entertainment for $60. I have a pc and two game consoles, and with Netflix and amazon
Prime costing only about $15 a month I will never pay $100 for tv ever again! I don't get first run episodes but i don't care.

 

[hfitch]

I am getting rid of cable for one reason. I don't watch 95% of it. Why should i be charged 100 dollars for something I don't watch. The shows I do watch are either on HBO or on Netflix. The shows I really want to see now I buy a subscription to either Amazon or Apple. If I buy it one Amazon I watch it on my xbox 360 and usually the show is aired on there the next day no ads. The new model should be new tv shows get first 3 episodes for free to users. Then after pay for each show individually or subscribe for the whole season. Then you would have a true sense of how many veiwers there really are out there.

 

[thethirdrace]

For those complaining for the price, I specifically said to take them with a grain of salt. I'm no economist, I just put up some numbers out of my rear end, feel free to use whatever numbers you want and apply the same concept to them.What you need to understand about the tiers is that you can't have it all for 8$. Netflix is a godsend, but this will never be the solution because for that price you will never get everything you wanna watch, you're always gonna have to pay extra somewhere else to get what's missing.

As for the "you can subscribe there or there or there", aren't you tired to be subscribed to 10 service providers at the same time just to get the 10 shows and 2 movies you're watching each week? (again numbers from my rear end, bend them however you want) The concept is to unite them all under the same structure, I don't want 20 account because that show is on HBO and this one is on Amazon Prime, while that movie is on iTune and this is there and that is... blah blah blah. For crying out loud, I have better things to do than that, don't you?

 

[LatanyaRPowell]

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