What TV producers should know part 2

What is within our control in responding to market upheavals.

This is a time of great upheaval, and as outlined last week, there isn’t an end point to this transformation, rather we have entered an age where change is the new normal.

This series of three posts covers what I think TV, film and content producers need to focus on when considering future strategies; whether you own or are employed within a production company, work as a freelancer, are keen to explore the world of being a creator, or want to get into the direct to consumer market. As a quick reminder, after much mulling on how to manage going on holiday, I decided to pause my weekly free newsletters for three weeks, and instead am sharing this series of posts to honour my paid subscribers (thanks to all of you!).

This series is broken down into three broad themes:

• Market context - what is beyond our control

• Internal issues - considerations for how we can respond to the external market

• Some practicalities to think of.

Last week, I wrote about the external market conditions:

What TV producers should know part 1

This included factors such as:

1. TV is undergoing a significant disruptive transformation

2. Disintermediation: The dilution of the power (and need) of gatekeeping

3. The internet is all about direct to consumer

4. Competitors for audience attention now include anyone and everyone

5. Audiences are much more fickle than in the past

6. Audiences continue to appreciate longer form video as well as TV and cinema

7. The operating costs of streaming are very different from broadcasting

8. Overarching war between tech companies

9. Tech companies are going to pivot and the successful companies today might not be in the future

10. TV, media and the internet are local, global and niche

11. Regulation shifts such as antitrust and AI

12. Truth and disinformation

13. Why advertisers are the key bellweather.

Before getting going, here is the second episode of the podcast I recorded a month or so ago with We Interrupt This Broadcast. It covers all sorts of the themes around disruption and technological change for TV which hopefully is of interest to producers.

And finally, can I flag the survey I’ve shared a few times before.

Thanks so much to those who have filled it in already, and if you haven’t I’d really value your opinion about this newsletter: what works, what doesn’t, and what you’d like more (or less) of.

And now to this week’s post which is about some of the issues that are within our control, and how we respond to those external market forces outlined last week.