Broadcasters Need to Bring Their A Game to Online Video
There are two kinds of video viewers: Those who know exactly what they want to watch and when, and those who browse -- the infamous channel surfers that hum Bruce Springsteen’s 1992 hit “57 Channels (And Nothin’ On).” Aside from a good hockey game or movie, I’m most definitely the latter. 我妻子受不了了.
I had a little time the other night by myself to unwind and just veg; I didn’t have plans to watch anything specific. 就这样开始了 ... I scrolled through the 250 channels from my cable provider, and ... 咩. Then I went to good ol’ reliable Netflix to see if there were any new movies up since last I looked. Nope, just a couple of new knockoffs, and boy, do I hate those. I did spot a couple of possibilities, but I knew that the content would still be there waiting if I found something better somewhere else. 我还没准备好承诺.
我试着 裂纹 再一次，没有爱. There was nothing appetizing in my usual action or sci-fi wheelhouse; Krull 我不会这么做的. So I went back to cable and chose a channel playing the movie 托尔 in glorious SD with commercials every 10 minutes. 我知道，我知道，我怎么敢. 我真丢脸! I constantly give my wife a hard time for tuning in to a movie on TV without even checking if it’s available online. 我的意思是, why watch something in low quality with commercials when you can watch it in HD uninterrupted? But with a world of content in 1080 at my thumb’s command, I did what I believe most viewers do -- choose programming for the sake of the content, 没有忠诚地选择它. 走吧，畜生?
但就是这样，不是吗? 我们的封面说, “内容为王”,，这是一种提醒, 对一些人来说, 可能是个预兆. Quality isn’t the first criteria for consumers when it comes to video -- it’s accessibility. What matters is who has the content and how cheap and easy it is for consumers to get at it.
If you are a premium content producer, you are in control of where it’s seen and where it’s monetized. What’s really disruptive is the amount of discoverable and accessible content out there on the “new networks,” made by content creators who are willing to get famous for less. Blame social media, not our industry. 我们只是推动者. You are the only ones holding yourselves back. And frankly, if you can’t think up something to compete with 电子游戏高中好吧，跟这一切说再见吧.
This is where the broadcasting industry and traditional multiple system operators (MSOs) are imploding as content publishers. They aren’t taking this seriously enough; it’s becoming a case of 自然选择. It’s clear they how they are thinking: “Let’s save the good stuff for the way we know how to make money on TV for as long as we can.” But that’s a war broadcasters and MSOs can’t win, and they need to bring their A game to online video -- it’s the new “channel.” There is more competition than ever before for the next "Breaking Bad" or "The Walking Dead."
确定, 每个人都在上网, 但我住的地方, 1) no one I know even knows our provider has an app, 2)我找过了, 而且是垃圾内容. Tom Brokaw said it with eloquence in his book 我们生命的时光: “Leftovers are really a metaphor for larger issues of money management.” I’ll be the first to the fridge for cold pizza, but there’s no way I’m going to waste what little time I have watching second-rate programming on their “experiment.“对我来说, 最重要的是内容, and I’ll be happy to pay whoever is going to give it to me when I want it and on the devices I want to watch it on. 你知道还有什么吗? In the new economy, disposable is the new affordable. You’ll sell way more movie rentals at $2.99美元比4美元更划算.99 .冲动购物. 记住, all your stuff is on The Pirate Bay anyway, so you’d better give people a really good reason to give you their money. Forget the bells and whistles: Get the premium content to the masses online because that, 亲爱的读者, is where people are willing to do a quick transaction to get what they want.
So, local cable provider, you may have kept me for 2 more hours because you gave me 托尔, but I haven’t watched my first episode of "House of Cards" on Netflix yet, 今晚就准备好了. Best start moving a lot faster to catch all those crazy people running with scissors.
本文发表在 2014 流媒体源手册 as "Time to Change the Channel."
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