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As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

economist.com

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Re: As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

#71
post #9
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if this will result in more outrageous, more clickbait junk from media outlets, desperate for audience attention. Even more than it is now. I am spending more time on YouTube too. I used to watch Netflix, but it has been downhill last 3 years or so.

What's strange to me is that while YouTube seems to be stealing a lot of attention, the creators on the platform are so often complaining the platform and having to build out non-platform revenue streams in order for it to make sense. Is it that they expect more than their fair share, or is YouTube leveraging their creators more than they should, or are adblockers the issue? I'm not sure what it is, it just surprises…

This video from Veritasium goes into more about Youtuber burnout, self-blame, dynamics and the drive to non-platform revenue streams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHsa9DqmId8

If you find the apparent contradiction between Youtube success and creators needing to built out non-platform revenue streams strange, the video gives a pretty good theory explaining why.

It's possible that a small number of creators are taking most of the revenue at any particular time, and the set of outstandingly successful creators keeps changing, which it might due to the promotion algorithm.

That gives all of them reasons to build out non-platform revenue streams.

I'm not saying Google/YouTube aren't taking too much. But hypothetically, even if they took 0% cut, the above could still happen.

Re: As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you basically saying the large media companies are kept alive to keep people on cable?

I don't think it has to serve a purpose other than power projection for the rich owners. I'd say that owning all media is the best bang for your buck if you want to to convert money to power.

Big media exists to define the overton window for the plebs.

Re: As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

#73

Ratings for sporting events are down dramatically. People generally aren't returning to movie theaters. According to the article, overall media consumption is up 30 minutes per week, which makes me wonder if what happened was mostly a case of habit destruction. Now that habits have been disturbed, trends that were already taking place were accelerated. Is there any reason to think people will break their new habits t…

Live sports is wrapped around groups a lot too. Which also begs the question of are people actually watching the ads in a bar or party..

The move to streaming for sports is bad.

I signed up for paid Hulu to watch olympics. It's grossly expensive, with ads still, and really confusing. I learned the hard way the only way to actually watch the events I wanted to I had to advance DVR them.

Instead of just listing them as videos, like netflix youtube and the rest of the world. The only stand alone videos I have access too without DVR are short 5 minute summary clips. And the DVR recorded broadcasts you have to manually figure out and skip over commercials and manually find the events in a 2 hour broadcast. I remember the super old tv connected DVRs recognized ads to skip. PornHub and YouTube can automatically mark content changes on the timeline.

Re: As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

#74
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely not, the central theme of every movie, sporting event, advertisement, or news article must be DIVERSITY DIVERSITY DIVERSITY!

In a movie landscape of formulaic sequels, uninspired remakes, endless superhero flicks, and a total lack of original ips... why is more diversity the first factor you jump to?

The forced unreal diversity makes things unbelievable. The black and white couple with only gay Asian children under 10 with a Latino teenager makes everything into a farce. All of those things happen but not all at once all of the time. It's labelled as progressive but it's regressive and mocks each minority group along the way.

Re: As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

#75
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are lockdowns coming back in the UK for real? I had the opposite impression from the news in the last two weeks. Some concern about variants, a push for vaccine passports from Boris’ cabinet, but no much talk of lockdowns. Please remember, The Economist is a British magazine. There is a world outside American borders.

I expect lockdowns to come back neither in the US nor in the UK, but hope for them to come back in both places.

In the UK, lockdowns doubled mental health referrals amongst young people [1] and there was a sharp increase in alcohol related deaths [2].

I hope they don't return, given we now have a vaccine. I also doubt their efficacy, with cases declining in some cases before lockdowns began.

They are not a cost-free public health tool, and it is unknown whether they have caused more harm than good.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/15/young-mental...

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/15/surge-in-alc...

Re: As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

#76

I can totally imagine that. I cancelled my TV subscription as it was all about corona all the time. So depressing. Now that I've done without for so long I don't think ever getting live TV again. My use of mainstream news sites has also dropped to near zero, just a one check per day. I focus more on tech news these days (stuff that really matters :) )

Now realize a lot of people just..kept watching. Scary stuff.

Re: As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How about hollywood starts making GOOD content again? Well I'm expecting a new surge of great movies coming out after everyone's vaccinated. Looking forward to the 2021 version of Dune , although I don't think that was spurred on because of the pandemic (maybe I'm wrong?). Expect some epic movies to come out in the next few years.

Dune isn't going to suck because of the pandemic. It's going to suck because of the pg-13 rating.

What element of Dune do you think would suffer by not having an ‘R’ rating? It’s not as if the book is reliant on anything exceptionally violent or obscene. Probably the darkest element is the reference to The Baron’s rape of young people. Frankly that’s better off as something to be implied and not depicted.

I think you can get away with enough in a PG-13 to suit the tone of this story. Watching the recent trailer you can catch a glimpse of what appear to be prisoners of war strapped upside down on troughs that will collect the blood from their slit throats. That’s pretty dark. And seemingly it’s an addition by the filmakers. It’s not an element from the book.

Re: As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

#79
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely not, the central theme of every movie, sporting event, advertisement, or news article must be DIVERSITY DIVERSITY DIVERSITY!

In a movie landscape of formulaic sequels, uninspired remakes, endless superhero flicks, and a total lack of original ips... why is more diversity the first factor you jump to?

Same story but more diversity in casting
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