Slipping & Sliding Into The New Year...
Remember what's important!
True story. As I sat down today intent on writing the final newsletter of 2022, trying to decide how to characterize the goings on of a very tumultuous year, I happened to shift my gaze from the computer screen to the TV. As if on cue, up popped a video of a car in Buffalo, New York sliding out of control on an ice covered neighborhood street. The driver had the look of someone plucked out of thin air by an unseen alien force, suddenly aware that his rock solid grip on reality just a short second ago had vanished, and now, literally, everything was out of his control…and, most likely, would not end well. Spooky. Major chills down the spine! Could there be a better analogy of the media business as this year comes to an end?
2023 TBD…
I think most of us would agree that legacy broadcasting is in wind down mode and no measure of ATSC 3.0 or over the air antennas is going to save it. The once bright future of Streaming, which compelled all the monster media companies to shift focus at whiplash speed and spend untold billions along the way, all of a sudden looked pretty dim and uncertain, which led to furious mass layoffs, cutbacks, and reorganizations at year’s end. Proverbial “industry giants” like Paramount (aka Viacom/CBS), NBC, even Disney, are now wondering if they’re large enough to compete in a business increasingly controlled by Apple and Microsoft, monoliths with nearly unlimited resources. So many questions…so few answers.
Put the Bottle Down…
Before you decide that 9 o’clock in the morning is a perfectly good time to start your New Year’s partying - after all, it’s been 2023 in Australia for almost a day now - and that Jack Daniels as a milk replacement in your cereal could be the next “big thing,” consider this: The problems plaguing our business are largely structural. Technology and consumption habits have changed, sending a very dated and calcified system into a chaotic tizzy. But, and it’s a big one, the very core of the industry, it’s purpose, it’s very reason for being, remains the same as always - Content. Everything else is there to support its creation. Remember that, and consider this…
In 1964 Marshall McLuhan, a Canadian communication theorist (whatever that is and where do I apply?), famously declared that “the medium is the message.” I believe what he was trying to say is that the method by which the content was delivered (newspaper, television, radio) shaped and contextualized its meaning. How we perceived television overall, for example, would color our perception of the content being presented. I believe his theory, quite possibly, is even truer today than it was back then. Think about it. Social media, streaming, texting, podcasts, AI, etc., all new mediums for the distribution of content that we’re only beginning to understand in terms of who uses them, and how. The technology of media has exploded over the past 15 years or so, and the evolution is not slowing down. Our strategies and methods to address or accommodate this rapid change have been slow and too often steeped in traditions tied to past practice. As I’ve said here many times, the industry’s tech side is progressive and pretty cool. Our ability to adapt, course correct, and change cultures…not so much. But I think we can get there. As McLuhan suggested, we need to spend the time learning the differing values and uses of the mediums carrying our content, as well as the motivations and expectations of those using them, aka our audience.
The Mouse That Roared…
It’s also worth noting that creating great content does not require the trappings of CNN, Netflix, or the New York Times. In fact, more than three months before the Times published their investigation of Long Island Congressman-elect George Santos, the tiny North Shore Leader, a weekly, hyper-local newspaper, had uncovered the story and published many of the same allegations. Why it took so long for larger media outlets to pick up on the story is a mystery perhaps owing to McLuhan’s theory that we attach values to content based largely on the delivery medium. I think it’s time we help change that. Larger outlets need to do a better job lifting up those small, independent reporters and newsrooms that are providing examination and focus in areas that otherwise will go unattended. Highlight their work, then join forces to expand and enhance. We’ll all be better off for it.
Back to the Future…
I wish you all the happiest of New Year’s in 2023 and sincerely hope it will be a year of hyper focusing on story telling replete with rich context, and of listening and learning who the audiences are, what they need, and where they go to get it. Odd though it may be for me, of all people, to say, I think we’re going to be okay. There will be more pain and suffering as we figure it out for sure, but I hold onto this truth: Content is still King and always will be, it’s just that the process is hella more complex. Instead of checkers we’re now forced to play a sort of three level chess, crafting custom messages for medium specific audiences and finding ways to achieve critical mass in a highly fractionalized media marketplace. Again, McLuhan’s wisdom is much more applicable today than ever. It’s gonna take plenty of brain power, new strategies, and a willingness to fail miserably before we succeed. Daunting for sure, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Are you ready to play? Game on!
Thank you for spending some of your valuable time with us this year. We hope you’ve found it worthwhile. I also want to give special thanks to my incredibly patient and enormously talented wife, Neva Cheatwood, who besides being the best living creature in the universe, and a world-class media mind and producer, happens to be the editor of this newsletter. She routinely makes it SOOO much better than it otherwise would be. Thanks Babe!