Fox Chief Off to Roku

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Mark Jeffries

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Sep 23, 2022, 1:05:07 PM9/23/22
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Charlie Collier, the former AMC exec who masterminded that channel's entry into prestige TV and has been CEO of Fox Entertainment for the last four years, picking up the slack after Murdoch sold 20th-Century Fox to Disney and cementing at least part-ownership of the bulk of Fox's programming (not to mention greenlighting "The Masked Singer"), is leaving Fox for a similar position at the streaming stick maker, who is trying to be a player in programming:


Collier's late dad Chet was the long-time head of Westinghouse Broadcasting's syndication operation, hiring a kid named Roger Ailes to work on "The Mike Douglas Show" and after retirement from Group W acting as a consultant and eminence grise to Ailes at America's Talking and Fox News.

Tom Wolper

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Sep 24, 2022, 1:51:03 PM9/24/22
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I missed Mad Men in its original run and recently started watching it on Freevee. I’m amazed by the writing and the intricacies of the plot. If he can bring that level of show to Roku that would be fantastic.

On the other hand, I don’t know how any series can break through the clutter anymore. Every so often I browse through my streaming platforms and there are dozens of new shows and they don’t look appealing.

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Kevin M.

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Sep 24, 2022, 2:31:57 PM9/24/22
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Recommendations from this group of people are often helpful to me to discover new things. 

I also seem to rely on various podcasts that feature guests to tip me off to new shows to try. Maron, Conan, and Smartless often remind me that there are people I like doing new shows or movies I wouldn’t have sought out on my own. 


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PGage

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Sep 24, 2022, 2:57:54 PM9/24/22
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I think this is becoming a key question in the Streaming Age. In the “Old” Streaming model, Netflix (then maybe Hulu and Amazon) would market a couple of prestige programs to attract new subscribers, but most of the rest of the content was not marketed offline at all, and was pushed in one way or another to current subscribers to keep them from churning.

Since there is or will be ad-supported levels for most streamers this may incentivize more advertising of more programs, which could help, but With the near collapse of linear television, there is almost no common space anymore for programmers to reach out to TV consumers to advertise/educate.

There are so many Streamers that it is impossible for even motivated consumers to keep current on even leading programs at each option, much less hidden gems or guilty pleasures.

The environment is ripe for a new kind of comprehensive, credible TV Guide, that provides both easy access to available programming in each streamer and competent reviews, features and interviews. Ideally, this could include something like a Netflix or Amazon algorithm, that would allow you to enter like your ten favorite and least favorite programs and then generate recommendations, across platforms.

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David Bruggeman

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Sep 24, 2022, 10:10:52 PM9/24/22
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I think breaking through the clutter has been an issue since at least the time Mad Men became a thing, but it's definitely harder.  This is just my anecdotal experience, but I see a lot more ads for streamers and streaming-only programs online.  I do see some on TV, but it's mostly Hulu promoting its sports offerings, or the streamer being advertised is the one linked to the channel I'm watching.

The multiplication of viewing options has made the magic number for what makes a 'hit' show much smaller.  Yes, a hit show on broadcast TV will pull in a lot more than one on a cable channel or a streamer.  But prestige TV needs big buzz more than big numbers.  I think this will remain the case, as the consolidation of streamers doesn't automatically mean it will be easier to find programs, or that the search mechanisms will be effective in pushing viewers to other shows they would stay with.

David

PGage

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Sep 24, 2022, 10:53:32 PM9/24/22
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As you say, a lot of the ads for streaming are for the service itself, perhaps highlighting a few top shows. But there are a lot of good to very good shows on streamers that are almost word of mouth. It took me almost a year for AppleTV+ *Severance to register on my radar, which I loved and would easily have shown up on even a minimal profile if my preferences.

David Bruggeman

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Sep 24, 2022, 11:16:53 PM9/24/22
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I think there's definitely a need for a 'smarter' TV guide/website/app that can work across the streaming platforms to curate suggested viewing based on minimal input.  A quarterly roundup of new programs, comparable to those new season special issues of TVG or EW (back when it wasn't an overblown aggregator), might be good value added as well.  It would be a lot more useful than the occasional pieces on what's leaving "insert streamer here" this month.

My guess as to why this hasn't been done yet is that the necessary information on streamer offerings is difficult to aggregate and navigate, either by way of the code or the tendency of streamers to keep most viewing information in house.

I think the issue with TV ad delivery also affects network offerings, though it may be more keenly felt with streaming.  I've been catching up on the Simpsons in advance of tomorrow's season premiere, and there are at least half a dozen Fox shows that were advertised from the 21-22 season that I had no idea even existed. 

David

Tom Wolper

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Sep 26, 2022, 2:31:01 PM9/26/22
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Two things that have popped into my head are the search engine and the origin of movie stars.

The early public internet had a similar clutter problem. Those of us who were on the WWW before Google remember the challenge of finding something relevant or usable and the way Alta Vista, Lycos, Yahoo, Excite, and others tried to innovate and find a good way. Maybe someone will figure out a streaming series search engine. If you know the name of the series you want to see there are lots of websites that will tell you where it’s streaming. My go-to is the IMDB app. We need some kind of reverse service where you enter the kind of show you’re looking for and the engine can recommend some series.

The early movie business had a similar problem when they started releasing lots of movies and they came across as clutter to audiences. In his book Gods Like Us, Ty Burr talks about the solution movie studios inadvertently came upon. They found out that audiences were forming attractions to the actors and they could sell movies by selling the stars. People would go see the new Pickford or Valentino movie no matter what it was called or what it was about. I have no idea how it ties to the streaming business but it was a solution to the clutter.

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Doug Eastick

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Sep 27, 2022, 12:20:40 AM9/27/22
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The plex.tv app has a new feature where you can tell it what streaming services you subscribe to, and it will help you with your searches and recommendations.

I'm unsure if this is in the free version, as I am a paying Plex Pass subscriber.

They also include a lot of C-grade streaming content (shows, movies) for free.



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Bob Jersey

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Sep 28, 2022, 10:09:08 AM9/28/22
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I joined the free version, and it looks like such a capability is there for me (I still have Peacock Premium)
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Doug Eastick, to Tom Wolper et al, Sept 27th:

Bob Jersey

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Nov 11, 2022, 4:14:11 PM11/11/22
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Collier talks to Variety... his roots in advertising is what drove him there:  “If you believe, and I do, that the vast majority of television will be streamed, that means the vast majority of advertising will be streamed."
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Mark Jeffries, Sept 23rd:
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