The television will not be revolutionised: Is Michael Wolff right that the glory days of the TV industry still lie in the future?
Media execs will be talking about one book this year, says Mumbrella’s Tim Burrowes. Television Is The New Television offers, for the first time, a credible challenge to the orthodoxy that digital disruption will inevitably lead to new media winners.
Over the last decade or so, I’ve often been afflicted by this constant high-pitched background noise.
Like anyone who write about media, I’ve been experiencing the communications world’s version of tinnitus: whistling past the graveyard.
Over the years, the whistling has got louder, as every medium challenged by the rise of digital has attempted to make the case that everything is going to be okay.
Netflix sure turned out to be an oversell. Good for the first month and then you find yourself wanting a lot more. The menu is very scant indeed.
Tim – can you please tell me how the industry will cope with the increasing phenomenon of people zapping through ads, or simply going onto social media during ad breaks on “live” shows like X Factor to comment on contestants.
Surely a matter of time before big advertisers realise having a commercial in the middle of an ad break is a waste of cash?
Hi Geoff,
Thanks for asking. That’s a very good question.
When I got my first job on a media title (about 13 years ago), the hot topic was about how PVRs were heralding “the end of the 30 second spot” – the theory that people were going to zap through them, as you say.
Broadly, that hasn’t happened to the extent we all expected. Either people don’t zap through even though they can, or the ones that are heavy users of PVRs are such heavy users, they still end up being exposed to a lot of ads, even if it’s just first and last in the break…
And in terms of social media during the break, it used to be “making a cup of tea”…
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Thought provoking and interesting article Tim. Sorry to start with a niggle, but I feel sure that the indefinite pronoun anyone, should have singular status.
Ergo: Like anyone who WRITES about media, I’ve been experiencing the communications world’s version of tinnitus:
Yes, television was supposed to sound the death knell for cinemas as cinema and television combined had done for variety theatre. They are all still with us, as indeed are print and radio.
I have great faith in television as a medium, yes it has taken a beating, but less so from digital than from its own administrators. Television has been abused by greedy media giants mining for advertising gold and broadcast exclusivity, bean counters, art baggers, gong hunters, and ratings rustlers, all of whom saw television primarily as a cash cow .
When all the avarice ends, and a rethink allows for concerned, devoted and talented people to approach the management of television with respect for its power and its dignity and it abilities as an entertainment and educational medium, then will begin the rebirth of a phenomenon which will develop into an entertainer, an educator, and a self funding creator of wealth.
Richard Moss you have outlined what should be the blue print for television broadcast in this country! I applaud the sentiment, look forward to the future and insist that this television rebirth need not be a difficult transition but the most natural evolutionary time.
Comparing the idea that ‘television would kill radio’ is far different to online killing television. It’s a screen to screen shift. People consume radio and television differently. Television did kill the way families consume radio, as it shifted the home entertainment dynamic from audio to audio/visual. People don’t sit around the living room and listen to the radio. I’m interested, Tim, whether you watch television or if you consume your news and entertainment online?
It seems to me that the ABC, with the recent launch of its online only arts channel on iView, is the only network taking the digital shift seriously!
People aged 15-24 watch less than half the amount of television than those over 35. And like with other new platforms of information and entertainment consumption the younger generations lead the way. I know Aus is an ageing population but ghee whizz It’s laughable that media execs can make the same mistake twice. Resistance is futile and as Almar Latour said ‘change is the new norm’!!
Hi Jane,
Thanks for the question. Yes, my habits have definitely shifted.
I still watch free to air and subscribe to Foxtel – although I have found myself giving thought to cutting the cord after another weekend where the service was out to my building. At $124 a month, I’m not sure I missed it enough…
And on the streaming front, I’m consuming a lot of Stan (and a little of ABC iView) on my tablet – at $10 a month strong value.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
It’s a low form of argument but please define television. If it is a broadcast/cabled dirty feed, then you can see it’s death on the horizon as bandwidth gets better. If it is moving pictures on a screen (and not cinema), regardless of how it got there, then it will be fine. Punters come for content and the creators/owners try to get a mix of fees and ads right to max revenue. Same as it ever was, in the grand scheme of things.
a screen is a screen is a screen. as ch7 have been telling everyone at their ‘newfronts’, they don’t care what screen you watch it on going forward cause they’re going to 1) measure and monitor your consumption as best they can on each device and 2) put ads in front of the viewer tailored to the screen they are watching on. it’s all TV though!
Like I say: a person falling from an aeroplane can truthfully shout “I’m not dead” over and over – probably for a number of minutes, but, eventually…
TV DIDN’T kill radio, anymore that radio didn’t kill sheet music. You can still buy sheet music but it doesn’t make anywhere near the money it used to. Radio and recordings were tools to sell more sheet music.
However, when do families organise their day to quickly get home, eat dinner and gather around the radio to hear the latest drama?
“No Holiday for Halliday”, “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows”.
Used to be GIANT. And the Stars of radio used to be giants. Bob and Dolly Dyer were as famous as Bob and Patty Menzies. (look it up) and Jack Davey not far behind.
Who shall we say are the radio stars of today? Not just the highest rating but capable of bringing an entire city out on the streets to see their latest stunt? Alan Jones pushing a baby carriage down George St? Jack Davey stopped traffic when HE did just that.
The point is NOT what killed what. The point is HOW HAS IT CHANGED…
Do kids today go to the Saturday morning movies to see the serials (“Flying G-Men” “Flash Gordon”) or do they watch on TV OR do they watch on a portable device?
Apart from Journalists, who has papers home delivered these days? More or less than in (say) 1950 or 1970?
Who rushes out to buy the Saturday paper to see the car ads or the job ads? “Hatches, matches and dispatches” was the river of gold for newspapers – no more, it’s online.
When my kids have babies, I doubt they’ll think to put a notice in the Herald but I bet they’ll put it on their Facebook and pictures on Instagram.
Remember, you can STILL buy sheet music.
Speaking of music, is it true Madonna makes more money from ringtones licencing than song sales? Who’d have thought, eh?
Not kill, but change.
TV won’t die – even though the owners are trying hard to kill it with repeats and “paid presentations”. TV is a wasteland of repeats (both “Skippy” and “M.A.S.H.” are on today) and repetition with blue saucepans, juice pulverisers, exercise machines and swivel sweepers. It’s a free 30 day trial!
Not to mention cash cows, silly weather reports (“I’m at the muffin capital of Queensland…”) and, with some exceptions, just dumb programs.
I’m not seeing Betamax rentals nor many VHS rentals. CDs knocked off not just audio cassettes but eight-tracks. Digital has knocked off DVDs pretty much. Nobody is buying reel-to-reel for home stereo are they?
To paraphrase President Kennedy “ask not what you and your peers are doing, instead ask what the young people are doing”.
You’ll be shocked.
Thing is there is ‘NetFlix’ & ‘Fetch TV’ Tvio plus digital TV is recordable and you can fast forward through all the ads – which on the commercial channels is essential if you don’t wish to lose the will to live – the gross disrespect that T.V advertising has for the intellect of the Australian viewing public means they deserve no sympathy for these new digital short-cuts through their assault on us all. You might think services like FetchTV & Netflix are insignificant, but this would be wrong, and they are growing. Of course YouTube has yet to fully enter the Australian public consciousness, but it will eventually and this provides a lot of viewing options. So I don’t actually agree with this assertion at all.