Probably could have gone on another few paragraphs but I haven't looked at texags in years on a pc, and typing that much out on a mobile is kind of a grind.
I think the sports rights packages over the next few years are going to be incredibly interesting. Been posting a tiny bit about this on the zoo in appropriate theads but the overwhelming majority of money is still in OTA (over the air) and cable/mso and I think that's what will drive the next round of rights packages. The curveball is the money that Apple and Amazon can throw at the leagues right now. They can straight up pay cash right now for the rights fees, whereas NBCU/Disney/Fox/Paramount definitely have those contracts hanging around their necks hoping like hell the traditional ad market stays together long enough to cover the checks they've written.
Every (and I do mean every) media company sees that digital is the new hotness and we're all trying to have...something....anything to sell so we can say "oh yeah we do that too!" The growth is in digital but the linear is what pays the bills. So how do you get some of that growth and capture those advertisers? Or more specifically...how do you keep your current advertisers if they're wanting a full spectrum of content to advertise to AND to hit every possible way a consumer consumes the content?
There's a reason Twitter is riddled with bargain basement rando apps and click bait ads. They're dirt cheap. There's a reason you see the same 5-10 commercials on your ad-supported OTT services. They're dirt cheap. The difference in the 2 is that Twitter is such a miniscule part of the admarket, it's a throw-in or a rounding error to advertise on Twitter. For a major brand, it's nothing to pull your ads off Twitter, yet advertising is (or was, pre-Musk) 80% of Twitter revenue. Meanwhile, if you're Kraft or Chevy or Target, and spending tens of millions across all spectrums, Disney has absolutely zero problems saying "hey Kraft, if you keep your ad spending at current levels, we'll throw in Hulu for free." Sure, Disney will certainly sell you ads on Hulu for a price, but if you're a big enough spender, you're probably getting them free or very very discounted.
The ad market is splintering daily and if you're not a big enough player to offer a product that scratches every advertisers' desire to be in front of every consumer they want to reach, you're going to be left in the dust. OTA tv, cable, radio...they aren't going away, not by any stretch. But there's not a single company (or rather, not a single company's shareholders) who is going to be satisfied with just maintaining what they have. Makes me wonder what the future holds because content finds a way. Once content finds an outlet the next step is someone making money off it 20 years ago we couldn't have contemplated Twitter. 10 years ago we couldn't have contemplated TikTok. (I do miss Vine, though)
Honestly, part of me hopes I'm long retired by the time most of this stuff shakes out. Then I can just watch TV and listen to the radio or podcasts without wondering why these advertisers aren't paying my company any money.
