Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Wednesday, June 12th, 2024:
I LOVE A GOOD TROLLING MOVE
Marketing television and/or streaming is expensive and to be honest, it's not always that successful. In a ideal world, a media company figures out some stunt that garners what is known as "earned media." Which is essentially free advertising. But coming up with an effective stunt that doesn't cost much but gets national or international attention is almost a unicorn effort.
So kudos to Netflix for its just-announced live special Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef. Just one day after the 16-time Nathan’s winner announced he would not be able to participate this year after inking a sponsorship agreement with Impossible Foods, Netflix announced the Labor Day special, which pits Chestnut against his long-time rival Takeru Kobayashi.
It is a perfect storm of trolling. Both eaters have been barred from the Nathan's competition and they last competed against each other in 2009, when Chestnut beat Kobayashi in a five hot dog sudden death eat-off.
The announcement of the special highlighted that the competition would feature "100% beef hot dogs," despite Chestnut's endorsement deal. I suspect that also opens up the possibility of a hot dog sponsor hoping to get in on a little Nathan's magic.
One testament to how smart the event is for marketing purposes is that when I received the press release announcing the special, I laughed out loud. And I suspect a lot of other people had the same reaction.
THE PROBLEM WITH BUNDLES
People in the TV industry love the idea of bundles. They have convinced themselves their customers want multiple streaming services bundled into one package, like some Frankenstein-like take on cable television.
The problem is that isn't what a lot of their customers are looking for in a bundle.
Hub Research just issued the results of its latest "Battle Royale" study, which interviews with 3,000 US entertainment decision-makers age 18-74 and asks them questions about their bundling preferences. 
Here's what Hub has to say about the results:
In our April survey, respondents completed a “build your own bundle” exercise to find out which content and services they would combine if given the chance. First, we showed consumers a list of 16 potential bundle “ingredients” – everything from streaming subscriptions to high-speed internet to news aggregators, and even hardware subscriptions (like a game console or smart TV). Then we asked them to choose any 5 of those 16 to build their “ideal” bundle. Their choices ran the gamut of content and providers. Here’s what we discovered:
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71% included high-speed internet in their bundle. It was the most-requested ingredient of all 16 items.
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65% included Netflix. It was the only SVOD subscription to appear in the top 5.
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An MVPD/vMVPD network bundle with live TV made the top 5 (40%) – but more people chose mobile phone service (52%) or a streaming music subscription (43%).
This is why Netflix is focusing so much of its attention on gaming. I don't know that the company believes it will be a huge gaming player anytime soon. But they recognize it's a space where they need to be.
This also has to be bad news for industry analysts who have convinced themselves that consumers are looking for some consolidation in the SVOD business. I think it's becoming increasingly clear that David Zaslav's hope of combining Max with perhaps Peacock or Paramount+ isn't going to move the bar all that much. In a world where 65% of men asked choose Netflix as the only major must-have SVOD, how are the smaller services going to compete? The only way is to make themselves more indispensable, and that plan doesn't appear to be working all that well right now.
WHY CAN'T THEY FIX HULU LIVE TV'S DVR?
I've written before about the frustrating user experience that comes with the Hulu Live TV DVR service. For instance, it randomly refuses to allow me to stop recording a show, no matter how many times I try. I made the mistake of once recording an episode of Mom when it was airing on CBS and now every time CMT runs a marathon of episodes, they're all dumped onto my DVR. Yes, I just delete them and yes, the DVR has unlimited storage. But it's still annoying.
The latest wrinkle is what I've come to call the "Property Brothers Glitch." A few week's ago, I spotted a show titled Don't Hate Your House With The Property Brothers. I decided to record it, but when I went back to watch the episode, instead what I discovered was a random three-hour block of programming from the NFL Network. And now I can't stop the recordings, which just seem to be random two or three-hour blocks of programming from a variety of cable networks. 
All of this would be less annoying if it wasn't for the fact that Hulu's DVR problems have been going on for years. And if the company has made any effort to improve things, it isn't obvious from the outside.
HAVE YOU HEARD OF KAI CENAT?
The definition of TV continues to expand in all sorts of unexpected ways, and I am trying to highlight some people you should know who might be off your radar.
Kai Cenat is a Twitch streamer who has won a number of "streamer of the year" awards since 2022 and last year became the most subscribed to Twitch streamer of all-time, with more than 300,000 subscribers. One of his things are these all-night sleepover streams, featuring celebrities like Nicki Minaj. He reportedly makes more than $20,000 a month for his streams and in February, became the first streamer to sign a deal with Nike.
If you're heard of him at all, it might be for the infamous 2023 Union Square Riot. In August, he announced a giveaway of Playstation 2's and gift cards in Manhattan's Union Square. The stunt drew thousand of followers and after the event spiraled into a riot, police arrested 65 people, including Cenat.
I mention all of this as a bit of background, because I noticed that Monday night's Sleepover Stream - which included Kevin Hart, Druski and Facetime appearance by LeBron James - set a new record for Cenat. The stream topped out at more than 720,000 concurrent viewers. Which is pretty impressive, no matter how you crunch the numbers.
There is a whole world of entertainment happening out there and the first legacy media company that figure out how to draw some of these people into their business model is going to make a fortune.
WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12TH:
* King Of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
* My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman (Netflix)
* Mysteries Of The Terracotta Warriors (Netflix) - [first look video]
* Presumed Innocent (Apple TV+) - [first look video]
* Real Estate King Series Premiere (fyi)
THURSDAY, JUNE 13TH:
* Alone Season Eleven Premiere (History)
* Blue Lights Season Two Premiere (Britbox)
* Bridgerton Season 3b Premiere (Netflix)
* Brats (Hulu)
* Death Down The Aisle (LMN)
* Doctor Climax Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Faithful Planet Series Premiere (Curiosity Stream)
* Hannah Einbinder: Everything Must Go (Max)
* The Boys Season Four Premiere (Prime Video)
* The Dirty D (Peacock)
SEE YOU ON THURSDAY!