From Jesus to CTV
This isn’t a love letter from Christ to an OEM. Even though the peak circulations of their respective publications are similar (Bible: 20 million today; TV Guide: 19 million c. 1980sA), deities likely don’t particularly care what’s on TV. Those comparable numbers are coincidental, not causal.
Rather, the title reflects the opportunity Connected TV manufacturers are enjoying with consumers. On a panel in the UK a few years ago, someone asked me, “Does CTV have a chance? How can it beat the broadcasters or cable?” The questions remain relevant today, as pundits and whitepapers consider whether CTV will sustain its recent surge after the pandemic disappears.
I posited that consumers will always seek the most direct path to entertainment, even as that entertainment becomes more sophisticated. OEMs faced an opportunity to engage people with fewer barriers than any medium since Biblical times. A look at history:
In the Beginning…
The Sermon on the Mount
– Entertainer: Jesus
– Intermediaries between the entertainer and the people: none
– Cost: Free
In the Middle Ages…
The Globe Theater
– Entertainer: Shakespeare
– Intermediaries: Stage; Lord Chamberlain’s Men
– Cost: Six pence ($15 USD todayB)
Early 20th Century
The War of the Worlds
– Entertainer: Orson Welles
– Intermediaries: Retail; CBS Radio; Mercury Theater
– Cost: Time (16 ad minutes per hour)
Mid 20th Century
Your Show of Shows
– Entertainers: Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca
– Intermediaries: Retail; NBC; Max Liebman Productions
– Cost: Time (16 ad minutes per hour)
Gone with the Wind
– Entertainers: Victor Fleming, Sidney Howard, Margaret Mitchell
– Intermediaries: Loew’s Inc.; MGM; Selznick International Pictures
– Cost: $1 per ticket ($18.36 USD today)
Latter 20th Century
The Weakest Link
– Entertainers: Anne Robinson
– Intermediaries: Retail; NBC; BBC Productions; local cable provider
– Cost: $50 – $100 cable subscription; Time (ad-supported)
The progression through the ages adds cost, while separating the consumer from its direct relationship with the entertainment.
As shared in my previous blog, the Streaming TV returns control to the consumer. But it also reduces intermediaries (by disintermediating cable companies and set-top boxes, and by launching their own FAST services). And it reduces costs (FAST services average 8 minutes of ad time; SVOD costs are generally lower than cable).
Given these consumer benefits, CTV, while imperfect, is more like Jesus than any other entertainment medium in history. And much like the growth in faith in Jesus Christ (2.3 BillionC), the popularity of CTV will escalate.
The answers are clear: Streaming TV has won its chance; it has beaten broadcast and cable. The pandemic did not cause this change; it did not even accelerate it. The consumer benefits rendered the dominance of streaming as inevitable. The timing is coincidental, not causal.
A “27 Good Bible Sales Statistics,” brandongaille.com, and encyclopedia.com’s TV Guide Inc. page.
Bhttp://shakespearestudyguide.com/Shake2/Money.html
Chttps://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/05/christians-remain-worlds-largest-religious-group-but-they-are-declining-in-europe/
Tom Wolfe is not the author of The Right Stuff, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, or Bonfire of the Vanities, although technically, he is a nationally-recognized, award-winning poet. He is the founder and principal of Rust Interactive, a consultancy specializing in helping companies navigate the booming Connected TV ecosystem and opportunity.