Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, November 30th, 2023.
THE NUANCED WORLD OF GLOBAL TELEVISION
There are a few industry analysts whose work I really admire, but who also have a point of view on certain subjects that I fundamentally disagree with. And because we both know how each of us feel and we also both know we're unlikely to change our minds, I tend to just ignore their work here. It's pointless to write something that ends up feeling more like being a contrarian just for the fun of it.
The Entertainment Strategy Guy is someone who falls in that category. His work with parsing viewer numbers and bringing context to the "streaming ratings" issue is first-rate and I recommend his work frequently. But there are a couple of places where we part ways and the issue of global television is one of them. And it's an important enough issue to me that I'm going to wade into this knowing that I am not changing his mind. And, tbh, he's not likely to change mine.
ESG has a piece in The Ankler today (subscription required) that looks at the US viewership for streaming television not produced in English and if you wonder where he stands on the issue, the headline "Le Flop! Foreign-Language Content In America," might be a bit of a tip-off:
If we’re talking bad foreign films and TV shows, you know what that means... it’s time for me to debunk, again, everyone’s favorite/most-frustrating/enduring myth of the Streaming Wars:1
All content is global!
To set the stage, ever since Squid Game came out and became a monster, pundits, with 100 percent certainty, said that “Squid Game changes everything! All content is global now!” In other words, the U.S. media landscape was about to be fundamentally changed, as foreign TV shows and films would compete with (or out-compete) English language/U.S.-based TV shows.
Now, while SOME people might have said that, they tended to be people you wouldn't pay attention to on anything that required serious strategic thinking.
Even at the time, Squid Game was seen as an outlier. I couldn't even get screeners of it ahead of time because no one at Netflix felt it was worth promoting it here. I've spoken to a lot of people at Netflix and I guarantee that they still consider it an outlier.
But content is global in the sense that a company like Netflix can produce a TV series or movie that plays very well in certain parts of the globe. But it will also find some small percentage of an audience globally. And if you are wise enough to keep production costs at a level where just the regional viewing will allow it to be profitable, the viewing in the other parts of the globe is just gravy.
And that is the core problem with ESG's analysis. Because he's a numbers guy, he focuses on how many shows hit the top ten list in the U.S. In part because the lion's share of the viewing minutes on any streaming service are nabbed by a small number of titles.
But what global productions do very well is fill the content library with viewing options at a very incremental cost in those territories where the title isn't a priority. A movie produced for an Indian audience will do well in Asia. But it will also be watched (albeit by a much smaller audience) by ex-pats across the globe. And it's a similar story whether the title is produced in Brazil or South Korea or Kenya. If the title breaks big globally, that's great. But the goal is to ideally have a regional success and a global presence.
This is a point ESG sort of makes, although he seems to draw the wrong lesson from it:
Many media companies expanded globally because they thought that content made anywhere would do well everywhere. (Again, blame Squid Game.) But using America as a test case, we’re just not seeing that. As I wrote last year, this applies to other countries as well. Customers in Asian countries prefer watching Japanese and Korean content more than English-language content, for example. This trend basically holds true across the globe. Most people prefer watching stuff in their native language or, after that, from their region.
He appears to see that regionalization is a downside. But it's a fundamental part of any global strategy. Because American titles have long had a global impact, analysts tend to see that model as the one that any streamer should be shooting for. When focusing on projects that have the possibility of being huge global hits isn't just creatively problematic. It's a very expensive way to do business.
ESG does make one point and it's one that I have complained about frequently in this newsletter. A lot of global productions are coming to the U.S. But the streamers uniformly do a terrible job of marketing them in America. I can't get screeners, oftentimes there isn't any real info available about the show. It's frustrating to discover some great title after it premieres and end up having to review it days afterwards because no one at the streamer knew anything about the release aside from the title and maybe a logline.
I won't claim to understand all the nuances of global TV production and distribution (and if you do, please reach out). But I do know that is much more nuanced than "it wasn't a hit in the U.S., so it shouldn't have been produced."
REVOLUTION WILL FIND ITS WAY
The world of entertainment in China is complicated. The Chinese government has spent a lot of money and effort encouraging the growth of Chinese companies in nearly every aspect of entertainment. In part because it sees successful Chinese media companies as a way of building national pride. But also because the Chinese government wants control. Of content, of production, of every aspect of what a viewer or listener experiences.
Concrete Avalanche is a great Substack about Chinese music and the latest edition focuses on the TV series The Big Show, which despite its format, became a way for viewers to express otherwise forbidden opinions:
Big Band’s main producer and judge Ma Dong told reporters that the show’s only goal is to simply create and export “positive emotional values” (正向情绪价值) through content that makes the audience happy. This alone is a provocative message nowadays, considering how “entertainment for entertainment’s sake” in China is hard to come by without propaganda as its undertones. Look no further than the Spring Festival Gala (春晚) to see audiences struggling to get a good laugh without getting lectured.
What’s more interesting to me is how the creation of positive emotional values involves and permits an articulation of negativity. Some of the most popular stages this season are melancholic, if not outright depressing and explicitly contradictory to the “common prosperity” vision CCP mouthpieces are claiming we have achieved.
One of the highlights of last season was a performance of ‘Fallacy’ (‘大梦’) from the band Vareihnaz (瓦伊纳), a first person account of an ordinary working class man and his mundane misery. I don't understand Chinese at all, but watching the YouTube video of the performance, you don't need to comprehend the lyrics to be moved by such a heartbreaking performance.
One side note: while the track record for competitive music TV shows featuring bands in the U.S. is not promising, I'd love to see someone take a shot at adapting this format. Or maybe just bring back the 2011 VH1 reality series Bands On The Run.
ODDS AND SODS
* I reviewed the new CNN weekly primetime talker King Charles and I think it's fair to say that I wasn't impressed.
* Maybe it's because developing dementia is my biggest fear. But if you aren't crying at the end of this Chevrolet holiday commercial, you're dead inside.
* A new season of Kids Baking Championship returns to the Food Network on Monday, January 1st.
* Aidy Bryant will host the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards, streaming live Sunday, February 25th on the IMDb and Film Independent’s YouTube channels, and across other social platforms.
* Prime Video has renewed Jeremy Clarkson’s farming show, Clarkson’s Farm, for Season 4, with Season 3 slated to premiere next year.
TWEET OF THE DAY
WHAT'S NEW TODAY AND TOMORROW:
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30TH:
* Bev Is Boss Series Premiere (WE tv)
* Bookie Series Premiere (Max)
* Brat Loves Judy: The Baby (WE tv)
* Busted! Series Premiere (Discovery)
* DIScontinued Series Premiere (Maximum Effort)
* Family Switch (Netflix)
* Hard Days (Netflix)
* Obliterated Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Paris In Love (Peacock)
* Selena + Chef: Home For The Holidays (Food)
* The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday (Netflix)
* The Perfect In-Laws (LMN)
* Time for Her To Come Home For Christmas (Hallmark Movies And Mysteries)
* Virgin River (Netflix)
* Wild Crime (Hulu)
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1ST:
* Candy Cane Lane (Prime Video)
* Fisk (Netflix)
* Frog & Toad: Christmas Eve (Apple TV+)
* Life After Lockup Season Premiere (WE tv)
* May December (Netflix)
* My Norwegian Holiday (Hallmark)
* Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season Premiere (Starz)
* Sexiest Splash Pads (HGTV)
* Shape Island: The Winter Blues (Apple TV+)
* Spirited Sing-Along (Apple TV+)
* Sweet Home Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
* The Shepard (Disney+)
* The Snoopy Show: Happiness Is Holiday Traditions (Apple TV+)
* Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones & Harrison Ford (Disney+)
* The UnBelievable With Dan Aykroyd Series Premiere (History)
* The World According To Football (Showtime)
Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.
SEE YOU FRIDAY!
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