As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession” • Hacker News Board

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

#201

Post by slibhb » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 3:09 AM UTC

watwut wrote: post #121

slibhb wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sure, having the one black or gay character in a tv show is obvious tokenism, particularly when portrayed as shallow stereotype, but it seems to me as if any attempt at representation nowadays is written off as "political" or tokenism, even when it's sincere. This is the crux of the issue. To me, "attempts at representation" are demeaning by definition . Giving someone a part because of their skin color or sex or s…

Yeah, if all characters are white guys, we know it is because of them being all super awesome. Mediocre white guy characters are everywhere and where everywhere. Why is it such an insult to be those roles filled by others?

You and two other posters interpreted my comment this way. But it's not at all what I said or meant.

I'm not complaining about "too many non white gay people in movies". I'm complaining about bad movies that I judge to be bad because of the po-faced pursuit of diversity rather than an attempt to make something beautiful, meaningful, strange, funny, or some other quality associated with good movies.

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

#202

Post by drevil-v2 » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 4:35 AM UTC

edmundsauto wrote: post #200

nichos wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what did it for me. I was already a bit sour with the amount of ads in the NFL, but when it became political on the field, that was enough. Agree or disagree with the position, but I watch sports to take a break from reality.

I suspect most of the athletes are okay with you not watching. For them, sports are reality and not escapism.

Perhaps the tens of millions of dollars in annual income driven by television broadcasting and advertising sales is also a large part of their reality and motivation, no?

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

#203

Post by helloworld11 » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 9:28 AM UTC

Teever wrote: post #174

spaetzleesser wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It did though. That Theranos was at heart a complete scam doesn't take away from the quality of its marketing and promotion. If anything, it shows how exceptional they can be, in elevating even a mostly worthless "product" to media attention until the lies become impossible to hide.

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

#204

Post by coffeeling » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 3:45 PM UTC

JCM9 wrote: post #56

Good content wins. Media has gotten away with producing junk for too long. Media complaining about a lack of “attention” is like employers complaining about a lack of workers. Give people a good job and pay them well and you’ll have no trouble finding workers. Produce good content and you’ll have no trouble getting eyeballs. Pretend like old normals still apply and it will be painful on both fronts.

It's not just that they've gotten away with producing junk, it's that they're actively becoming / making themselves more junky by the minute.

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

#205

Post by OnlineGladiator » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 6:09 PM UTC

helloworld11 wrote: post #203

Teever wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah that idea worked out real well for Theranos.

It did though. That Theranos was at heart a complete scam doesn't take away from the quality of its marketing and promotion. If anything, it shows how exceptional they can be, in elevating even a mostly worthless "product" to media attention until the lies become impossible to hide.

I think this is the wrong takeaway. I understand your point, but ultimately the company failed and there is a possibility Elizabeth Holmes will go to jail. There was no financial payout. Doubling down on bullshit just leads to a worse reckoning (at least in a world with accountability, and sadly that's not always the case).

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

#206

Post by jjk166 » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 6:37 PM UTC

paulcole wrote: post #195

spaetzleesser wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think especially larger companies prefer average but predictable people that execute their role as ordered. Top performers don’t really fit in.

Top performers aren’t needed for most jobs and in many cases just aren’t desireable. There’s nothing wrong with filling seats with perfectly average people to do perfectly average jobs — and I say this as a person who is (at best) quite average.

Really there are two types of work: bounded and unbounded. In bounded work there is some well defined threshold where someone is good enough, or at least some finite risk from someone not being good enough. For example a mediocre mechanic might not be able to fix an issue that a better mechanic could, but the cost of going with a bad mechanic will never exceed the value of the car (at which point you would simply buy a new car), and realistically the cost will almost always be quite a bit less. For bounded tasks, it makes sense to hire average people who show up.

On the other hand there is unbounded work where the skill level necessary is unknown and the costs of going with someone who is insufficiently skilled could be immense. For example odds are there's no way to know if your surgeon isn't up to the task before they've cut you open, which is a terrible time to discover that fact. For unbounded tasks it makes sense to always hire the best you can possibly afford, even for something that seems like it should not require much skill.

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

#207

Post by edmundsauto » Wed, Aug 04, 2021, 4:21 AM UTC

drevil-v2 wrote: post #202

edmundsauto wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect most of the athletes are okay with you not watching. For them, sports are reality and not escapism.

Perhaps the tens of millions of dollars in annual income driven by television broadcasting and advertising sales is also a large part of their reality and motivation, no?

What percentage do you estimate when you say “a large part”?

I agree that it is perhaps possible that some olympians derive motivation from potential economic returns. I think that’s what you’re trying to say, right?

I posit that is not the primary motivator, and projecting motivations on a group of people tells us more about your motivations than theirs.