Wall Street Journal (July 23)
The facts being presented by the Jan. 6 special committee are “sobering,” and “the most horrifying to date” was “President Trump’s conduct as the riot raged and he sat watching TV, posting inflammatory tweets and refusing to send help…. Character is revealed in a crisis, and Mr. Pence passed his Jan. 6 trial. Mr. Trump utterly failed his.”
Tags: Character, Conduct, Crisis, Facts, Failed, Horrifying, Inflammatory, Jan. 6, Pence, Raged, Riot, Sobering, Special committee, Trump, TV, Tweets
Los Angeles Times (September 4)
The TV season usually begins during the third week in September. “For nearly seven decades, broadcast TV networks have used the season to launch new shows in the hope they become enduring hits—and to bring back fresh episodes of returning programs after the long summer hiatus.” The pandemic, however, closed down scripted production, “making it impossible for broadcast networks to premiere most of their new shows on schedule.” It may no longer matter in a world where streaming reigns. Ultimately, the pandemic may “accelerate change at broadcast networks” where the concept of a season seems increasingly anachronistic.
Tags: Broadcast, Change, Closed, Episodes, Networks, Pandemic, Premiere, Production, Scripted, Season, September, Shows, Streaming, TV
The Economist (April 25)
“The BBC is having a good pandemic, but the loss of young audiences poses a mortal threat to its funding.” Viewing by 16- to 24-year-olds is just 85 minutes versus the nearly 6 hours watched daily by those over 65. “Those aged 16-24 spend more time on YouTube than live TV” while “the next generation should terrify them. Children aged 12-15 are more likely to have heard of Netflix than the BBC.”
Fortune (February Issue)
With the rise of streaming services, traditional TV is losing ground to cord cutting and this is driving a change in advertising. “Last year, for the first time, global ad spending on digital platforms exceeded the dollars spent on TV—by a solid $31 billion margin. The U.S. hit that milestone in 2016, and the spread is widening.”
Tags: Ad spend, Advertising, Cord cutting, Digital platforms, Streaming, TV, U.S.
Newsweek (December 26)
“More than a third of Americans have listened to podcasts” while 15% loyally listen weekly. “Podcasts turned a corner in 2017, capturing the attention of more traditional platforms, like television, publishing and radio, who see podcasting as a way to grow audiences and to mine for stories.” Listeners respond at high rates to podcast advertising, which “is likely to expand in 2018, thanks to the proven effectiveness of the medium.”
Tags: Advertising, Audiences, Effectiveness, Listeners, Platforms, Podcasts, Publishing, Radio, Traditional, TV, U.S.
Newsweek (December 26)
“More than a third of Americans have listened to podcasts” while 15% loyally listen weekly. “Podcasts turned a corner in 2017, capturing the attention of more traditional platforms, like television, publishing and radio, who see podcasting as a way to grow audiences and to mine for stories.” Listeners respond at high rates to podcast advertising, which “is likely to expand in 2018, thanks to the proven effectiveness of the medium.”
Tags: Advertising, Audiences, Effectiveness, Podcasts, Publishing, Radio, Traditional platforms, TV, U.S.
Chicago Tribune (August 17)
“In the ongoing war for our attention, books are losing. Badly.” The average American only reads 19 minutes per day, but spends over 2 hours watching TV. “So to get modern readers’ attention, some publishers are taking a cue from Charles Dickens and releasing their books in installments.” The serials are “A-OK with us. We admire this approachable, one-bit-at-a-time tactic. It could be a godsend for a niche market of readers.” That said, “the best method for binge-reading is the same today as it was in Dickens’ day: a good, old-fashioned book”.
Tags: Approachable, Attention, Binge-reading, Books, Dickens, Installments, Publishers, Reading, Serials, TV, U.S.
Washington Post (February 14, 2014)
Russia’s refreshingly independent TV Dozhd may soon be off the air as cable and satellite providers, apparently under duress, drop the channel from their offerings. “This knives-in-the-night approach is typical of the latter-day Putin regime. While Mr. Putin once caused a stir with a highly publicized takeover of the independent TV channel NTV, now he is stealthier, working his will from the shadows…. But the result is the same: It looks like yet another light in Russia’s democratic struggle—the refreshing openness of TV Dozhd—is about to go dark.”
Tags: Cable, Democratic struggle, Duress, Independent, Openness, Putin, Regime, Russia, Satellite, Stealth, Takeover, TV, TV Dozhd
The Economist (August 17)
“The web is beginning to fit into the media world’s oldest script: a new technology rides into town, the moguls try to destroy it, but it survives and becomes part of the town’s future. Hollywood loathed the VCR (comparing it to the Boston Strangler); the networks hated cable TV; sheet-music publishers feared the phonograph…. Yet nearly always two things happen: the old media survive (people are still buying vinyl records and even the odd printed magazine), and the new media expand the market.”
Tags: Cable, Hollywood, Magazine, Market, Music, Networks, New media, Old media, Phonograph, Print, Publishers, Records, Technology, TV, VCR, Vinyl, Web
Reuters (April 13)
North Korea’s “highly unusual” admission over state TV of today’s launch failure raises many questions. Will embarrassment lead to a nuclear test? Does it instead signal a new openness? Nobody knows. “Although North Korea is one of the most tightly controlled states on earth, with no free media and a tight grip on its population, such a high profile failure could trigger a backlash among the country’s elite.”
Tags: Embarassment, Failure, Launch, North Korea, Nuclear text, TV
