Welcome to the June BHC Bulletin, the latest update on fascinating but underreported stories from media-ville.
Today it’s about local news and why it remains totally relevant in both the UK and the US, how even the big media players think consolidation of the streamers is going to happen, plus maybe a new button coming to your TV remote control and the closure of linear television channels continues.
First….the value of local, the value of relevance – its an audience driver
Name a programme that is almost always in the top ten shows of the day – every day – Coronation Street, yep, Eastenders, yep, News at Ten, yep – but also the local news….that show on at 6pm on ITV or 6.30 on the Beeb…whether Look North in Yorkshire, Spotlight in the South West or Granada reports in the North West. They deliver big audience…and the cumulative total of all the shows makes it a top ten watch every day.
This shows that relevant, friendly and local (well regional really) is a core driver for viewers.
And it’s the same in the US, the trade association of America’s local broadcast television industry TVB, has published research comparing local TV news and subscription streaming audiences.
TVB compared one-day viewing of local broadcast news to streaming services, which included Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, Apple TV+, Disney+ and HBO Max.
Because of the different methodologies that Nielsen uses to accumulate SVoD audiences and linear audiences, the only way to have an apples-to-apples comparison is to look at one day of SVoD audiences versus the same one day of linear broadcast TV audiences – claim TVB – but the data is fascinating.
The “…analysis comparing localbroadcast TV news audiences in five geographically diverse markets and streaming service viewing in those same markets.” said Hadassa Gerber, Chief Research Officer, TVB, told Advance Television
“In each market, local broadcast TV news had 8-12 times more adult 18+ viewers than the streaming platforms combined.”
The key issue here is the narrative – anyone in broadcast tv knows that on any given day they get a much larger audience than the streamers – but the marketing team often fail to deliver that message.
Much more about the research and more data here:
The problem of course is that linear audiences are falling – the figures above would have been far higher if the research as carried out a decade ago.
The future of content distribution – both for entertainment and corporate – is streaming.
Is Linear TV dying – it’s certainly beginning to look that way.
Hence news from Germany that Sky Deutschland is closing – or discontinuing as they say(!) – three linear channels, Sky Comedy, Spiegel Geschichte and Curiosity TV,
Sky says viewing habits of its viewers, particularly for comedy, had switched primarily to streaming and on-demand via Sky Q or Wow.
Just as an aside – industry insiders think Sky Deutschland is on the market because of its weak position in the market. C21 Media speculated “ProSiebenSat.1 Group is thought to be a potential buyer.”
Here is more on channels closures: www.c21media.net/news/sky-deutschland-to-drop-linear-channels-sky-comedy-spiegel-geschichte-curiosity-tv/
The closure of linear channels will see major acceleration in the months to come – already Disney and ITV have closed or announced closure of Kids channels.
If you want to migrate your content – either as a producer or business to a streaming platform – Beech Hill Consultancy has the experience to lead your journey. Just get in touch.
Streamers set to merge – consolidation inevitable
There aren’t many in the media with more experience thank Liberty Global’s Mike Fries
And at SeriesFest in Denver recently the headline “Handful of major streamers will survive as rest ‘swallowed up,’ kind of sums up his presentation!
Fries thinks only between three and five large, general entertainment platforms will emerge victorious in the streaming wars while the remainder will be acquired.
His view – they winners will be Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, Netflix and YouTube TV.
“There will be four or five that try to rush to the middle and the rest will get swallowed up,” he said during a panel “Streamers and studios without that level of scale will struggle to survive as standalone entities”.
A full report of Fries comments – including on AI can be found here:
The remote to get a new button?
And on the subject of streamers – when you pick up any remote control device these days there is a button for Netflix, or YouTube or Amazon Prime – now the BBC is demanding one for public service broadcasters.
It’s basically a redefinition of PSB “due prominence” for the digital age.
In the “old world” PSBs are “gifted” the top slots on the programme guides/menus on Freeview, Sky and Virgin Media etc.
As Media Leader reported, “…in a submission to a Commons cross-party select committee, the BBC has called for TV manufacturers to be forced to add a dedicated on-demand button to their remote controls that takes viewers to the PSBs streaming services.”
Nick Swimer who is an entertainment & media partner at Reed Smith LLP wrote a fascinating comment about this and the new draft Media Bill The Media Leader. The full article is here : https://the-media-leader.com/the-draft-media-bill-transforming-the-prominence-of-public-service-broadcasting
That’s it from this BHC Bulletin, we hope you enjoyed the review of just a few key issues right now – for all your comms / leadership and media issues – try Beech Hill Consultancy for solutions. And we’d love to hear from you regarding feedback to this Bulletin, its six months old now – so keen to learn if you like the contents.