The Evolution of Media
& The Web
Over the last nearly three centuries, the innovation of media and entertainment has been powered by technology and creativity---with each paradigm shift inventing and applying new methods to engage and entertain consumers.
As we enter into the next stage of innovation in content and media, we are seeing new monetization, engagement and commerce models emerging that will change the power dynamic between content owners, distributors and consumers.
Consumer Behavior is Evolving
Of course it is...but the pace of change is creating ripples throughout the largest single platform for advertising since the mid-60's. Television.
The pandemic of 2020 greatly impacted consumer content consumption, and the habits that followed are creating ripple effects across the Television distribution supply and value chain.
During this time consumers found themselves with more discretionary leisure time that inflated digital and social media audiences and laid the foundation for new habits and preferences around video consumption.
This 18 month period delivered an inflection point for the preference of video on demand vs appointment video. Of course, this consumer preference had already evolved from time shifting and ad skipping to binging since the early 2000's, but as sports and news, the last remaining levees of broadcast and cable were either unavailable or avoided at all costs---especially with younger viewers, consumption shifted time spent with traditional television.
As you'll see in the eMarketer chart below, time spent with Traditional TV started to meaningfully shift towards streaming in 2022 and the time spent streaming video has continued to cannibalize content consumption in Traditional TV.
The Evolution of Video Content Popularity Over the Years
In the mid-1950's Television became the primary source of information and entertainment for the American Family, with more than 20M Households watching the Election Returns on Election Day 1956.
As the audiences continued to grow into multiple rooms outside of the living room, the content began evolving from the Westerns, Sitcoms and Variety Shows that dominated the programming of the 50's and 60's into Live Sports (MNF), Action and Fantasy in the 70's and a return to Family Sitcoms and Scripted Dramas for the 80's and 90's. The 2000's ushered in reality television and gameshows and the dominance of the NFL in primetime.
The proliferation of channels with expanded cable and satellite television and then into digital has created a diversity of content and a business model that has evolved from traditional broadcast or multicast to a 1:1 on demand video experience that is personalized for each individual user and device.
What has happened since the start of the pandemic is a fundamental shift in audience from traditional television (broadcast & cable) to an on demand world dominated by streaming.
What Does This Mean?
The economics of traditional television (broadcast and cable) are being heavily impacted by the changing landscape of streaming and on demand video consumption. Traditional media companies have written down billions of dollars from their portfolio of cable and broadcast properties just in Q2 of 2024.
These changes require traditional media companies to take a new approach to audience building, a dynamic and programmable advertising model built on 1:1 personalization and content that is flexible for deployment across myriad of devices and environments.