TV May Die Soon • Hacker News Board

Re: TV May Die Soon

#71

Post by ufmace » Mon, Apr 17, 2017, 3:10 AM UTC

skrebbel wrote: post #41

> FANG is delivering actionable data to advertisers in ways that traditional broadcasters simply can’t. The "N" in that weird acronym stands for Netflix. The day they start selling my data to advertisers is the day I'm back to torrenting. I feel like the author is so ad-focused that she doesn't even see this: the whole article is about ads. Netflix is showing that you can make fantastic, super expensive content, even…

I think it makes sense in that Ads are the business model for broadcast TV, so any possibility of "TV Dying" in that the major broadcast networks go out of business or are forced to drastically scale back operations would be based on their real lifeblood, the advertisers, cutting back ad spending for TV.

Re: TV May Die Soon

#72

Post by shalmanese » Mon, Apr 17, 2017, 8:21 AM UTC

It's taken as a given that more targetability is always better for ads but lately, I've come to believe that lack of targeting ability can, in and of itself, be an asset.

The more coarse the targeting, the more humans are able to reason about ad placement. If I see an tv ad on a program, I know that all the people in my region watching the same program are also guaranteed to see the ad. Whereas if I get an ad on Facebook, I have no idea who else might have seen the same ad.

I've been mulling this over because Podcasts, by some weird quirk of technological path dependence, got locked early on into a state of extreme ad unsophistication. Despite, or maybe because of this, podcasts have some of the highest ad rates in the business. Take Mailchimp's sponsorship of Serial for example, that sponsorship itself became somewhat of a mild media sensation surrounding the discussion of the story. But that could only happen because of the impossibility of ad targeting in podcasts. Because of that, you knew everyone else listening to serial was hearing the exact same ad as you.

Re: TV May Die Soon

#73

Post by coldtea » Mon, Apr 17, 2017, 5:10 PM UTC

brendangregg wrote: post #70

coldtea wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The "N" in that weird acronym stands for Netflix. The day they start selling my data to advertisers is the day I'm back to torrenting. They might already be selling it for all we know ("privacy statement" aside). Also, it doesn't matter at all, if many other people don't also do the same move.

But what if Netflix can be a role model for other companies? Doing the right thing, and being successful. Before I joined, I was a little cynical about big business and the shady moves you hear about to make a profit. It's been refreshing to join Netflix and find it to be an honest company with a simple business model: build a product that people want to buy.

>But what if Netflix can be a role model for other companies? Doing the right thing, and being successful.

Unless privately owned, or run by a very strong CEO with very specific opinions and total control over the board, that's just not what companies do. As soon as profit is to be made, they'll sell melamine as baby milk.

So, not sure about how Netflix plays it, but there's another case I hand't covered: making enough money elsewhere to not be interested in such things.

Re: TV May Die Soon

#74

Post by mnm1 » Mon, Apr 17, 2017, 5:14 PM UTC

ascagnel_ wrote: post #57

mnm1 wrote: post #13

I searched the article for "Hulu" and got zero hits. I assume the author simply didn't do any research at all.

That's interesting, since Hulu runs Nielsen tracking software. I'm not sure if it's included in DVR+3/+7 ratings, though.

I'm not sure either, but I do know it's included in the top four networks' and their advertisers' future plans for TV and that an article discussing said companies future without discussing Hulu is incomplete.

Re: TV May Die Soon

#75

Post by brendangregg » Mon, Apr 17, 2017, 7:56 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #73

brendangregg wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what if Netflix can be a role model for other companies? Doing the right thing, and being successful. Before I joined, I was a little cynical about big business and the shady moves you hear about to make a profit. It's been refreshing to join Netflix and find it to be an honest company with a simple business model: build a product that people want to buy.

> But what if Netflix can be a role model for other companies? Doing the right thing, and being successful. Unless privately owned, or run by a very strong CEO with very specific opinions and total control over the board, that's just not what companies do. As soon as profit is to be made, they'll sell melamine as baby milk. So, not sure about how Netflix plays it, but there's another case I hand't covered: making eno…

> that's just not what companies do

Spreading the belief that malicious practice is necessary for success and is inevitable, empowers that behavior. So please stop it, since (given examples like Netflix) it isn't true. :)