M+E Connections

We enjoy exercising and working out but think we overdid it the other evening and sprained our flicking finger. You know the routine.

Tough day at school or work so you sit down in front of the big screen to watch something “interesting.” Back in the old TV days, we’d scroll through the channel/program guide in a few seconds to find something, click on it and watch. Sure, there were a few times when you’d say to yourself, “gawd that’s horrible” or “seen it, what else is there?”

But today, we have freedom … the pleasure of watching what we want, when we want and even on the screen we want. Works great in theory but sucks in real life!

Pick up the clicker, flip around Netflix, nothing hits our hot button … so we go to Disney+, nada … Apple TV+, zero … Amazon Prime, zip … Tubi, duhh … Pluto … jeezz.

It turns out we’re not alone in this workout.

It’s a two-fold problem:

• There’s no fall season like back in the appointment TV era when all the shows started and were on a certain day, at a certain time, ran for 12-20 segments and it was renewed or cancelled depending on the Nielsen eyeballs.
• Streamers received a show, dropped it into their inventory and if it clicks, it sits for 8-12 weeks or whatever and then suddenly disappears into the vault for – later. No reason/apology given, it’s just gone.

With pay TV, you didn’t have to memorize what you were going to watch on Wednesday evening at 10 p.m., the program guide helped you remember.

It goes without saying that no one has introduced a new paid channel in what, 100 years? O.K., maybe not that long but the same ones have been around forever around the globe.

Streamers are new, sexy, appealing, profit makers so there is a new one for you to fall in love with every time you turn around. In addition to the individual streamers, we also had the FAST (free ad-supported TV) services added to the mix — Roku, Plex, Zumo, Sling and all of the home screen smart TVs — Samsung, LG, etc.

They solved all your problems … 80, 100, 200, more all in one nice little place so you can rummage through the packed crowd to find something, anything to watch.

Hopefully, the rush for instant riches will slow down.

With the streamers (SVOD/AVOD/FAST), you sorta start from the beginning every evening. You search, watch a little, search, watch a little, search and BAM! before you know it, it’s time to go to bed.

The search, click, search, click is probably why the reporting services (Reelgood, Nielsen, JustWatch and others) base show/movie, service popularity based on two-minute increments.

According to the Ericsson ConsumerLab TV and Media Report, the average person spends 55 hours a year flicking through their services and libraries for something to fill the evening hours until bedtime.

It wasn’t so bad when you only had Netflix, Amazon Prime and yes, YouTube; but now there are the big eight here in the Americas (Netflix, Disney +, Max, Amazon Prime, Paramount +, Apple TV+, Peacock, Hulu plus about 200 “others”) and the number/mix is pretty similar around the globe.

Netflix shows/movies are almost always on the top of the lists because yes, the content is good; but they also cheat (a little) to prove to you that they’re the one you really want for your entertainment.

No not in a bad way, it’s just that they’ve been at this stuff longer and have learned how to stay connected to folks.

Say you enjoyed “Strange Things” or “The Backlist” the other night.

Sure, they will suggest films/shows based on what you watched before, but they will also tweak the artwork on your screen and include thumbnail images based on the genre, the actor/director in other projects, and use something called “contextual bandits” AI to fill in the data gaps to keep you hooked, entertained, satisfied.

But the minute you leave their content silo and venture across your other streaming services, you’re right back to click, check it out, click and the evening flies by.

FAST (Tubi, Pluto, FreeVee) is similar but it’s a bigger boat with some new stuff, older familiar comfort viewing and select local TV channels. The great thing about them is they offer far fewer ads than your old pay TV and a lower cost for the service.

But you’re still flicking from service to service because nothing is in one place.

You’ll be glad to know that the studios have answered your plea for help with … bundles.

Of course, it’s their version of a bundle (at a cost):

• WBD’s bundle is in their words, a service for everyone in the household, Cartoon Channel, HBO scripted, Discovery unscripted and maybe even stuff from CNN and Turner Sports
• Disney’s bundle is Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ – the best movies (originals, classics), shows (comedy, drama, classics) —all for one low price
• Paramount includes movies, series, live sports, SHOWTIME and more
• Peacock is originals, hit shows, live sports, 24/7 news and more

We know, that’s not the bundle you were looking for, but you’ve got four “content rich”, expensive (no they will never get cheaper) but…

Surprise … it doesn’t exist!

The closest we’ve come to the old TV bundle is JustWatch’s free streaming guide.

It’s not perfect but they’ve brought together all of the streaming services (SVOD and AVOD) including a lot you’ve never heard of and it gives you a single browsing source. You can check out what’s popular, what’s new and recently added across all the services as well as make up your own watch list (in case you forget), sports are being added and it’s legal.

Legal means if you’re like us with four subscription and three free services, you select a movie/show and watch.

Yeah, if you’re not a subscriber to a streamer that has a movie/series you want to see, you can check your entertainment budget and see if it can stand the weight of one more service.

Or cancel something you haven’t visited in a long time and pick up the more interesting service.

Yes, you’re still skimming through a bunch of content from around the world and ultimately must choose which services stay/go, but it feels like you’re suddenly making an informed choice on what you’re going to have available/use on your screen.

“It’s perhaps as close as you’re going to get to your old-fashioned pay TV program guide,” said Allan McLennan, global head of PADEM Media Group.

“The internet broke the shackles for reaching the consumer directly,” he said, “and we’re simply not going to go back to the $100 bundle to watch movies/shows when you’re really only watching content from three or four subscription/ad-supported services and two or three FAST services.

“Disney, WBD, Netflix, Paramount, Peacock or any of the services aren’t going to give up their direct consumer again and pass that control back to the bundler,” he added. “That dog won’t hunt anymore.

“The consolidated guide simplifies your program/show search, reduces the frustration in finding – or settling on your evening’s entertainment, and in some ways, it gives the consumer ultimate control over his/her/their entertainment budget because you can make your service selections based on your personal viewing habits and what you want to explore.”

So, what’s missing?

All the services have beefed up their “watch next” algorithms guide rails to keep folks with their service, making it easy to choose your next entertainment segment simply by clicking play.

The new viewing guide service simply helps the consumer quickly scan the listings when they’re in the mood for something different … true crime, classic reruns, cooking/home improvement, drama, documentary, horror, whatever.

You know, a break during your break.

One of the interesting things that has come out of the anytime, anywhere, any screen viewing is that seasonality has disappeared.

Studios and streamers will drop a new film/show into the mix at any time during the year, not just a refresh in the Fall.

The drop/replace when interest wanes are a continuing — and often logic defying — process to rekindle interest and keep the consumers engaged.

According to Parrot Research, this shift significantly reduced the peaks and valleys we became accustomed to when new shows/series were released.

Instead, streamers/studios track the weekly/monthly increases/decreases in specific projects and replace shows/series based on current and projected demand and, more importantly, the constant quest for new subscribers.

What all the streamers probably understand but won’t include in any of their Wall Street calls and investor letters is that people sign-up/use their service not because it’s from Disney, WBD, Paramount, Peacock, or any of the thousands of studios around the globe, but it’s all about the movie/series.

Want to keep them coming back?

Spin-offs like “Yellowstone” being the launching pad for “1883,” “1928,” “Tulsa King” and whatever nostalgic trick comes next.

And yes, there is a “Star Wars” for every age group. Or line extensions which have become a viewing mainstay from Dick Wolf and Donald Belisarius – “Law & Order,” “FBI,” “Chicago,” “NCIS,” and more.

But the content IP (intellectual property) can only stretch so far before viewers feel they have to go on the hunt for something new, fresh, different, unique.

As long as it’s somewhat familiar.

“I’m not a big fan of unleashing AI on the movie/show/series public,” McClennan said, “but the one tool the home entertainment viewer needs is an intelligent assistant that learns and really understands the individual and his/her interests, some of which they don’t even realize themselves.

“It goes beyond just a specific genre, actor, director or studio/streamer. What is needed is a tool that learns/understands when you want to learn something new, explore new horizons or simply relax, unwind and offers entertainment suggestions from across the entertainment universe – genre, producer, director, actor, storyline.

“Of course, the tool will also need guardrails so it doesn’t harm the industry and the viewing public,” he added, “and perhaps that will be the biggest challenge. Right now, we don’t know what we don’t know.”

We admit we’re more than a little cool to the idea of something that might understand us better than we understand ourselves; but on the other hand, we’d sure like some help in choosing a new, different show, movie we might like instead of wasting time every evening flicking from service to service, show/movie to show/movie.

In addition, there’s always that gnawing FOMO in the back of our mind that says, “That project was good, but you know could have watched this or this and would have really been entertained.”

Maybe it’s time we took Alan’s advice when he said in The Doors, “Embrace your new reality. That’s right, accept it. Embrace it, embrace your new reality.”

Now all we need is to have someone who’s smart enough (and whom we trust) to develop this little tool to check out all the reviews, storylines, genres, studio/indie project stockpiles and give us an impartial, personalized list of what we might want to watch tonight, and our entertainment can be even more satisfying.

How tough can that be?

Yeah, right!


Andy Marken [email protected] is an author of more than 800 articles on management, marketing, communications, industry trends in media and entertainment, consumer electronics, software and applications.