Evan Shapiro’s Media Report
Hosted by Jason Godbey
On this episode producer/media analyst Evan Shapiro talks about the state of the media/entertainment industry. He breaks down the streaming wars and where audiences are spending their watch time, and talks about recent mergers and acquisitions.
He also talks about the rise of live/local streaming services on FAST (free ad-supported television) and predicts a boom in local television advertising in 2024. “Free streaming is the number one type of service for viewers under 45.” says Shapiro who also spoke about the importance of the YouTube acquisition of NFL Sunday Ticket. “There is a great smart local play for YouTube around the NFL Sunday ticket that I think ties into their very vibrant YouTube TV strategy… That’s the fasting growing MVP [multichannel video programming distributor] out there…. I think you’re going to see a lot of money shift into these utility programing platforms around live, local, sports, urgent, event-based stuff.”
Shapiro also does a deep-dive into the advertising landscape and how it will change in the years to come. “80% of the video probably will still wind up being free… The ad product will get better… It’ll become more like the television we grew up with… The question is who’s going to divide themselves into the pure paying/ad-free, and who are going to be the viewers that watch with ads, and what are the eco-systems you’re going to build from that? That’s the moment in time that we’re in…. I think new rules will be written.”
We also spoke about Disco Bros (aka Warner Bros/Discovery/HBO). Recently they made the decision to rebrand their HBO/Max streaming service as Max which will launch later this month. “Crucially for Disco Bros, I think they’re 12 months away from another sale. It is the most sold property in the history of entertainment… I do believe that is a company making itself substantially more efficient and more attractive from a debt and revenue standpoint for a potential next buyer.” says Shapiro.
The media landscape has been changing at a rapid rate, and it’s fascinating to see where it may go next. For more of Evan Shapiro’s insights, his substack is called Media War & Peace.. Check out our interview with him at last’s year’s NAB Show in New York where he was he keynote speaker. You can follow him on LinkedIn
Posted in Uncategorized
Originally published at https://behindtherabbitproductions.wordpress.com on April 26, 2023.
