Happy Monday War & Peaceniks. Let’s go to the Video!
Last week I released my map of the CTV Wars…
In my piece, I also explained that the CTV Wars are the new Streaming Wars, the most important battle for eyeballs, attention and dollars in Media.
Why? Here’s why…
We are smack in the middle of a tectonic television shift. Sure, viewing has been leaving pay TV/broadcast in favor of streaming for years. But last year was the first time serious money moved with it. Look at this split screen…
And this isn’t just about perception, it’s about reality finally taking hold.
And lest you think “well sports will help save cable and broadcast for a while,” look at FOX on that chart; down 14%, almost entirely because they lost Thursday Night Football to Amazon. And while Prime’s football fandom is smaller than Fox’s, it’s also younger and far more upscale. Sports is now chasing fans to CTV. Apple’s got baseball, ESPN+ is streaming games year round, and YouTube now has NFL Sunday Ticket. Then, you must remember this…
Virtual MVPDs are the only the growth in pay TV. Not just right now. Forevermore. Now add Sunday Ticket to YouTube TV’s mix, and imagine where these numbers will be a year from now. Or two years. Or five.
Now peep this…
Viewing is moving to streaming. Sports is moving to streaming. And now, the money is stampeding to streaming.
While it’s only January, it is definitely not too early to start thinking about this year’s Upfront. Just ask Netflix.
This Tuesday, January 17, at 1p PT/4p ET, I’ll be holding a webinar for War & Peaceniks, to handicap what all this movement means for the 2023 NewFronts/Upfronts, and for the TV larger (and global) ad economy. I’ll be joined by special guest TVREV’s streaming madman Alan Wolk.
If you see the webinar details below, I bow to you as a paying subscriber. If you do not, let me propose that you to sign up for the free trial and join the discussion. If you hate it, you can always cancel it and bash me on social media!
Until then, enjoy the week!
ESHAP
P.S. In honor of Dr. King, let’s end with this…
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