Program scripts from week of August 19, 2013
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
On Creativity
There are times when I just despair as I read through the news in the world of media. We live in a time of absolutely incredible possibilities because so many more of us can be creative. And yet I watch people in positions where they could do amazing things just get lazy and try to cheat.
Let’s talk about creativity in the TV/video world. On the side of laziness and lacking in creativity we find Fox. They have just announced that they will be creating an American version of the BBC program “Broadchurch”. Now don’t get me wrong, I am second to none in my respect for the television programming done by our cousins across the pond.
Here’s the problem with Fox re-making “Broadchurch”. The show only debuted in England in March! Add to that the fact that the original stars former Dr. Who star David Tennant and David Bradley who currently stars in HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and you’re just setting yourself up to fail. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the recent attempt to Americanize the iconic English cop show “Prime Suspect”. Crashed and burned. But hey, stealing other people’s creative ideas is still easier than doing the work yourself.
On the other hand out in the wide world of video on the web you can find some very interesting and innovative stuff.
If you like scary, X-Files/Twilight Zone stuff you want to check out “Marble Hornets”. My daughter got me turned on to this one. Created by a couple of college buddies as a lark it has grown a dedicated following. The budget is super low but they use that to good effect. If you’re familiar with the online character Slenderman this falls into that universe. And it is both compelling and utterly chilling.
At the opposite end you have “Pittsburgh Dad”. Again, originally the work of a couple of buddies from my home town, this video series is dedicated to all of us who grew up in around the ‘Burgh and that special point of view that comes from the dads of that area. Think of it as the Steel City’s answer to “All In the Family”.
There is some creative work being done out there. Sadly not enough of it is being done by the big bucks people.
What’s next?
When it comes to old line media there are really two different stories. There’s the big boys, the NY Times, the TV networks, folks like that, and then there’s the local media. In our case folks folks like the Post Journal, local radio and Buffalo TV stations. Those two groups are playing on very different ground. One has a nationwide or even worldwide audience and potential paying customer base. The other one has a much more limited base for income. Consequently they may feel the financial pinch brought on by massive shifts in how media is consumed before the big boys do.
And that brings me back to the question of what’s next. Or perhaps more pointedly, WHO’S next? We’ve talked about local print and we’ve talked about the stresses on local radio. They’re already there. Who’s next?
I think it’s local TV. Think about it. More and more of the best of what’s on TV, the network programming, is available online. You can watch it anytime, anywhere. Beyond that what’s left? Local News and lots of either re-runs or syndicated programming. In reality I think most of us watched that because it’s all there was. For re-runs of my favorite shows I can now turn to my home collection of DVDs and Blu-Ray. As for the rest of syndicated TV? I was raised to believe that if you can’t say something nice say nothing at all.
(Silence)
Local TV is rapidly becoming a dinosaur. In fact some experts think that all TV, broadcast, cable and satellite, is headed for the door. There’s one primary bit of programming that may slow that change because it generates huge audiences and profits. Live sports. Because of its short “shelf life” (meaning you really need to see the game when it’s played or it’s just not as interesting) sports remain “must see TV”. Once the leagues figure out how to make the money they need without having to put up with the network providers I guarantee they will be gone in a shot.
And at that point we will know the answer to “What’s Next?”
Things have been busy in the land of Google recently.
Start off with Google bouncing the Youtube app from the Android store for the second time. Google claims the app violates Youtubes User agreement. This despite the fact that they worked WITH Youtube to create the app and, oh-yeah-by-the-way, Google OWNS Youtube. Some weird interoffice politics there I think.
On the Google Glass front what may be a big step forward. Google Glass are the high tech eyeglasses that allow you to access the web while you’re walking around. I continue to have doubts about the wisdom of this idea but not everyone agrees. Last week German automaker Mercedes-Benz said they will work with Google to integrate the Google Glass concept into some future models. So we can expect them to be extremely well engineered and ridiculously complicated.
But my favorite story from the last couple weeks has to do with Google’s recent update on Gmail. This is the new tabbed sort of your email that’s rolled out over the last month or so. It’s been met with the usual grumbles from the usual suspects but I have to admit I’m liking it. Those talented little Google algorithms (I have no idea what an algorithm is by the way. It some kind of computer coding mathematics thing that borders on either magic or computers thinking for themselves, neither of which helps me sleep peacefully at night), these algorithms sort your mail. Like taking all the ones trying to sell you something and putting them in a separate folder from the mail you might actually care about. It allows me to sort through those things quickly and remove the 99.9% of them that I don’t want.
Well, not everyone is as thrilled by this as I am. Care to guess who has the greatest complaint? Yep, the email marketing community. They complain that fewer people are likely to read their emails and that will hurt business. I understand that the core of advertising is views. The more time you can get you message seen or heard the more likely your message will sink in. At the same time if the deal is compelling I’m more likely to open that email. And if it’s from someone I do regular business with then it’s easy to move that to my Primary folder.
And then those clever little algorithms will remember to put it there in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment