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What even is “TV” anymore? Does it matter that there’s no easy answer to that question? That was my takeaway from our amazing coverage this past week during the studios and streamers’ upfronts presentation to advertisers. As Elaine Low wrote in her trenchant recap, “To try to separate what counts as ‘TV’ this week from all the other projects on display increasingly feels like an antiquated exercise.” (Of course, Richard Rushfield cast his gimlet eye on Hollywood’s new sports-as-savior obsession on display.)
I attended the YouTube upfront on Wednesday. Is YouTube now “TV”? It’s being consumed to the tune of 1 billion hours a day in the living room, with increasingly sophisticated programming, so I’d say yes. I hope you read Ashley Cullins’ revelatory immersion into YouTube stars sticking with the platform — and the Hollywood agents and lawyers benefiting from all the money to be made in merch, touring, podcasts and other spinoffs. Even if they don’t get a percentage on the whopping $70 billion YouTube has paid out to creators in just the last three years, there’s a stunning amount of money to be had tapping into a direct-to-consumer relationship between a star of any wattage and their fans. Now we’re seeing traditional celebs such as Jon Stewart and Jennifer Garner wanting in.
This is the next wave of disruption as the traditional platforms here morph, and The Ankler will be your guide to understanding it.
Meanwhile . . .
Ankler Events are a huge hit. While Elaine, Sean McNulty and I did New York, and Gregg Kilday and Claire Atkinson hit Cannes, Katey Rich interviewed Lulu Wang and Sarayu Blue for our Expats event in L.A.; the next day, the politically obsessed came out for our “The President & the Podium” event with Jen Psaki and Dee Dee Myers, who dove in to Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump, polling, messaging and Israel/Gaza with Janice:
Now I’m giving ICYMI readers first crack to come on June 10 for Katey’s interview in L.A. with the great David Oyelowo, to watch and discuss his Paramount+ miniseries Lawmen: Bass Reeves. RSVP here:
Now, check out the rest of our best of the week, ICYMI:
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The production contraction, theatrical’s waking nightmare and no one having “fun” are cause for dread, but Richard writes, there are just as many reasons to not lose faith. That said, sports is not the magic elixir:
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Elaine’s comprehensive look at scripted TV’s future as sports and stunts took center stage is a must-read, as she also tackled what “Sports Hulu” — now Venu — might look like, and how Netflix and Amazon fared:
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During a busy week across the industry, Sean McNulty had all the analysis on the numbers behind Netflix’s ad tier and don’t miss his count of just how few scripted shows are left on the broadcast networks:
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