Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Wednesday, June 26th, 2024:
ONE MORE THING ABOUT DISCOVERY+
My piece in yesterday's newsletter about my love of Discovery+ sparked a lot of feedback from readers, most along the lines of "yes, I feel the same way." Several people mentioned that of all of the major streaming services, Discovery+ has the best "Continue Watching" section.
"If I save a show and watch an episode, the next new episode will automatically drop in when it's available," wrote Kim. "Which is an idea that seems to be too difficult for a lot of streaming services. That section is also very prominent on the home page. I don't have to scroll down through endless rows to get to it."
I agree with that assessment, although I wish the service would drop new episodes into the continue watching section whenever a new season begins of some show I've saved. The service seems to forget shows once the season ends, which isn't helpful. But otherwise, it's a solid feature.
I also received some additional data about this comment I made yesterday:
"The overall size of the catalog has slowly been decreased and while I don't have a firm figure, based on what I've seen as a subscriber, somewhere around 25% of the shows have either been removed from Discovery+ and/or licensed exclusively elsewhere. The service also seems to be licensing a much smaller group of shows from rivals such as A&E Networks."
I heard from someone at Parrot Analytics, who passed along this factoid:
Since Q3 2022, Discovery+ has seen its library shrink by nearly 18%, according to Parrot Analytics' Content Panorama.
So my 25% estimate wasn't too far off. My hunch is that Max and Paramount+ have both seen sizeable drops in the same period.
WHAT'S GOING ON AT THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER?
The Penske Media Corporation-owned trade outlet The Hollywood Reporter (THR) announced on Tuesday that Elisabeth Rabishaw, an industry veteran and current THR executive VP and publisher is leaving after spending 14 years at the outlet. According to a story announcing the move, she will stay on at the company in a consulting role. This follows the recent round of layoffs at THR, which included TV editor Lesley Goldberg, who had been with the outlet since 2003. Other layoffs included senior editor of diversity and inclusion Rebecca Sun, THR’s vice president of business development and consumer partnerships Cathy Field and what was described to me as a "handful" of other editorial and business employees.
The Hollywood Reporter had an earlier round of layoffs in June 2023, which affected less than five employees.
Penske Media Corporation is a private company, so it's not clear how the ongoing changes in the industry have affected the outlet (or any of the other trades also owned by PMC). But given the soft ad market (aside from FYC ads) and changes in search that have impacted traffic across the board, it's likely that THR has been hit with the same challenges as other news organizations inside and outside Hollywood.
But the layoffs are interesting to me in the context of something I have heard from multiple people: that executives at PMC have been quietly telling some studios, advertisers and other interested figures that they are considering shifting the focus of THR to a more entertainment lifestyle direction.
In the past, THR has covered much of the same editorial ground as sister trade publications Deadline and Variety. According to several people I've spoken with in recent days, one plan under consideration within PMC is to make moves to further differentiate the three top titles. Deadline is already seen as more consumer-facing than the other sites, with Variety being seen as more industry-oriented (especially given efforts such as the subscription-based Variety+).
THR would shift to what was described to me as a "Rolling Stone of the TV and movie industry." Shopping and sponsored product pages have been rolled out over the past few months and sources tell me that while THR would still include a TV and movie industry bent, there would be an increase in entertainment lifestyle coverage. One person who works in the marketing arm of a major studio told me on Wednesday that the potential shift had been described to them as seeking to frame THR as being the home for "aspirational Hollywood."
No, I'm not quite sure what that means, either.
THE CHANGING STATE OF HOLLYWOOD ENTERTAINMENT ACROSS THE GLOBE
I frequently write that a lot of people in Hollywood don't have a real sense of how the global television industry is changing underneath them and the impact it has on their careers.
There is still this sense that Hollywood-produced entertainment shows are the bread-and-butter choice across the globe. That has been the case for the past few decades and it's true that familiar American titles are still an important component of any foreign broadcast network or streamer.
But what has changed is that the importance of American titles have changed and one example is these comments from a NATPE Budapest panel of CEOs, who were quizzed on how U.S. studio fare performs for them:
Stella Litou runs CME-owned broadcasters Pro Plus in Slovenia and RTL in Croatia. “This content, especially the evergreen procedurals and comedies, they are for our secondary, not for our main channel,” she said when asked about the role for U.S. content on her services. “But for our secondary channels, these are our bread-and-butter. It’s very important to consolidate the numbers for the group and to populate the bouquet of channels that we offer.”
Ralf Litou is CEO of Bulgaria’s bTV group, also part of CME. He was also at German commercial giant ProSiebenSat.1 during the era when it was forking out huge sums for studio shows. In Bulgaria, his strategy is to pick and choose even though competitors still look for output deals. “We are happy not to have those anymore,” he said. “You want to be more focused on local and local content, and in the end, local always beats the [U.S.] series. So yes, we have them still sometimes, especially in low season they are important, but not that important anymore.”
This shift of American titles from the primary networks overseas to secondary ones has a direct impact on the American television industry. The shift results in smaller licensing fees and that means the revenue stream on the average title is reduced. That means a reduction in revenue for the studios, which results in budgets being cut and some marginal shows getting canceled or never ordered at all because the budgets no longer make sense with less international licensing money available.
As I keep saying, this is a very interconnected world and decisions made in Budapest or Australia can have an impact on whether your American-produced show gets the green light. That increased emphasis on local productions also means that more content spend is shifting from American projects to ones produced in local global markets. All of which leads to a reduction of production in Hollywood.
Which is why I remind people that "post peak TV" has more to do with the specifics in Hollywood, instead of the state of the industry across the globe.
ODDS AND SODS
* NBC will air two-hour Toby Keith tribute concert special this August, with a guest line-up to include Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Ashley McBryde, Carrie Underwood, Parker McCollum, Jelly Roll, Darius Rucker, Lainey Wilson, and The War And Treaty. Toby Keith: American Icon will premiere Wednesday, August 28th.
* For the deeply tech-minded of you, this is an interesting look by Enterprise WordPress, which examines how Penske Media (which owns Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline and more) uses WordPress to streamline its content production process.
* A new season of Alex vs America will premiere Sunday, July 14th, 2024 on the Food Network. I enjoy the show, but I'm not thrilled about the changes for the upcoming season, which include adding a number of familiar Food Network personalities to the competitor list instead of having Chef Alex Guarnaschelli compete against talented chefs with less TV experience. The season premiere pits her against Michael Symon, Stephanie Izard and Jose Garces, which sounds like about a half dozen other shows also on the network. Other competitors this season will include Duff Goldman, Antonia Lofaso, Simon Majumdar, Marcus Samuelsson, Jet Tila, Brooke Williamson, Michael Voltaggio, and Geoffrey Zakarian. Sigh.
* Apple TV+ has announced the new six-part docuseries Vietnam: The War That Changed America, which will premiere next year.
* Paramount+ will premiere season two of the Sylvester Stallone drama The Tulsa King on Sunday, September 15th in the U.S. and Canada and across Paramount+ international markets beginning Monday, September 16th.
* Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire has been renewed for a third season by AMC Networks ahead of the show’s season two finale airing on June 30th.
TWEET OF THE DAY
WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26TH:
* Acapulco Season Three Finale (Apple TV+)
* Fear Thy Neighbor Season Premiere (Investigation Discovery)
* Land Of Women Series Premiere (Apple TV+)
* Northern Lights (Britbox)
* The Real CSI: Miami Series Premiere (CBS)
* The Strongest Magician In The Demon Lord's Army Was A Human (Crunchyroll)
* Worst Roommate Ever Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
THURSDAY, JUNE 27TH:
* Diane Von Furstenberg: Woman In Charge (Hulu)
* Domino Day: Lone Witch Series Premiere (Sundance Now)
* Drawing Close (Netflix)
* My Lady Jane Series Premiere (Prime Video)
* That 90s Show Season One Part Two Premiere (Netflix) - [first look video]
* The Bear Season Three Premiere (Hulu)
* Young. Wild. Free. (BET+) - [first look video]
SEE YOU ON THURSDAY!