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

economist.com

171–180 of 207 posts

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

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On the other hand a good marketing person is worth gold. I don't deny this, but I think you can say this for any position that ultimately can deliver something. A good PM, a good IT manager, or just the accepted good engineer. People that really want to contribute will work on what matters most and set their egos aside. I say this as someone who has been a PM before and realized it was not the most critical functio…

I think a good salesperson or marketing person can bring way more value than a good PM or IT manager usually can.

Linus Torvalds is evidence that a good PM/IT manager is worth a lot.

There aren't a lot of people that can make or lead a team to make world class products, but the number of marketing mangers who are exceptional enough to have significant impact on your company aren't that many either.

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

#172
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tv is a better format for visual story telling then movies could ever be. now that we have streaming its not bound to time limits or irrelevant commercial pacing. The stories are longer and can be more in depth. Does TV get the best talent though? For some reason I thought they get paid less despite doing alot more work. All those actors from got went on to try movies afterwards.

More likely, in my opinion, is the the stories can also be too long and all over the place.

Compare the size of the story to another medium with different constraints. A 13- or 26-episode TV series can usually make a decent adaptation of a novel. A movie always has to cut a lot of stuff out.

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

#173
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.

more likely youtube will adopt the onlyfans model once people start getting tired of the clickbait useless vids

They already have paid channel membership and member only videos.

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

#174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On the other hand a good marketing person is worth gold. I don't deny this, but I think you can say this for any position that ultimately can deliver something. A good PM, a good IT manager, or just the accepted good engineer. People that really want to contribute will work on what matters most and set their egos aside. I say this as someone who has been a PM before and realized it was not the most critical functio…

I think a good salesperson or marketing person can bring way more value than a good PM or IT manager usually can.

Yeah that idea worked out real well for Theranos.

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

#175
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.

I alternate between YT and Netflix. The problem I have with YT is the paralysis of choice in deciding which of a zillion videos to watch. When I have a show to binge, its much easier to just jump into it relax without thinking about what to watch

> The problem I have with YT is the paralysis of choice

This is it. I haven't subscribed to a new YT channel years.

There's always a million+ subscriber channel with good stuff to watch - that I don't have time for.

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

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, you can just watch movies at home if you don't like theaters ...

But not first run movies that have a theatrical window.

Can you list the movies that didn't get a simultaneous digital release during the last year or so?

Tenet, and...?

I have a bunch of pre-paid movie tickets still from the pre-pandemic days. Haven't used a single one, since all the movies I wanted to watch I can see at home for around 25€.

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

#177
post #19

How about hollywood starts making GOOD content again?

not sure if this is coming back anytime soon: 1. games are a much bigger market than movies, which makes hollywood even more risk averse than usual 2. superhero movies make most income, sucking up all the talent 3. huge emphasis on TV series in the last decade, again sucking up all the talent for these three reasons i’m not sure if i’ll see another sin city/training day/etc in the near future

> 3. huge emphasis on TV series in the last decade, again sucking up all the talent

Some stories are just better when they are told in a serial format with more room to breathe. Even if they need to take a budget cut.

A recent example being Tomorrow War[0]. It had WAY too much shit happening for the 2h 18min runtime. The same content as a, say, 4 hour miniseries? That would've been fucking amazing.

Same budget, same plot, just add more character development (talky bits), a bit slower pacing. Perfect.

[0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9777666/

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

#178
post #33
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not sure if this is coming back anytime soon: 1. games are a much bigger market than movies, which makes hollywood even more risk averse than usual 2. superhero movies make most income, sucking up all the talent 3. huge emphasis on TV series in the last decade, again sucking up all the talent for these three reasons i’m not sure if i’ll see another sin city/training day/etc in the near future

Tv is a better format for visual story telling then movies could ever be. now that we have streaming its not bound to time limits or irrelevant commercial pacing. The stories are longer and can be more in depth. Does TV get the best talent though? For some reason I thought they get paid less despite doing alot more work. All those actors from got went on to try movies afterwards.

> now that we have streaming its not bound to time limits or irrelevant commercial pacing

The Mandalorian is a perfect example of this. The episodes varied from 25 minutes(!) to 47 minutes. Just take the time the plot needs, no more.

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

#179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> amazed that companies haven't figured out that advertisements are far less effective than they claim to be I was once asked to do some stats on the marketing effectiveness of a company I was at. Not my job but I really hated a couple of the people in the marketing dept so I went at the task anyway. I had long had suspicious that the advertising was mostly smoke and mirrors so I was glad to find out that I was right…

On the other hand a good marketing person is worth gold. In one company I contracted at they had a marketing person who was super proactive and really worked social media , the press and other channels. She pretty much singlehandedly made the company into a known player in their field. Same probably goes for good salespeople. But there aren’t too many people of that caliber. Most just go through the motions.

Because that’s actual marketing, not just spamming dumb commercials to whatever venue you can find.

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

#180
post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.…

> They are not a cost-free public health tool, and it is unknown whether they have caused more harm than good. That is a good point, but it's not that we're weighing which of two decisions is good, only which is less bad. Certainly the laissez faire attitudes many places in the US, including my residence, have taken to dealing with the problem have also been not cost-free, and to say that it is unknown whether they h…

I was pro-lockdown when we didn't have the vaccine, but don't know if all the measures the UK took were necessary to contain the virus, or if, on balance, certain policies didn't cause more harm than good.

For example, public exercise with other people was banned, even though open air transmissibility is low, and exercise improves mental health and coronavirus outcomes.

What also happened, in addition to the above, is that people also avoided hospital treatment, and other illnesses, such as cancer, were deprioritised.

These included young people, who would have not have been statistically at risk of coronavirus, but died unintentionally due to conditions caused by lockdown policies.

In this case, quality of life adjusted years becomes relevant, and you have to justify measures taken primarily to protect the old, over being able to treat the young.

Of course when I say "lockdown" it will have has different meanings, depending on which country one lives in.

I think certainly some lockdown policies have done more harm than good, even though given another pandemic, I would support other lockdown policies, like banning large indoor gatherings.

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