142: Creative Economy Lessons from “The Great Race to Rule Streaming TV”

Given the “mutation of television’s DNA” that reporter Jonah Weiner describes in his fantastic New York Times Magazine article, The Great Race to Rule Streaming TV, there is much we can learn about where the creative economy is heading, how to stand out, and how to Pivot your own creative projects.

This article is so juicy—so jam-packed with insights into where TV is heading that parallels publishing, podcasting and product creation—that I couldn’t resist jumping on the mic to do a point-by-point analysis of how they might apply to our own creative projects in this experimental episode.

The article—and what we’re going to dive into together—spans a fascinating swath of topics that I’ll help unpack. Everything from prestige content versus quick bites, hyper-abundance and the atmosphere of plentitude, infinite possibilities, unpredictability, celebrating fringe, “great-ish” and the golden age of good enough, quiet time meetings, licensing versus original content, hoarding, the great reclamation of content, perceived barriers to entry, and preserving storytelling.

If it goes well, and you’re interested in these topics, I can even invite Jonah to a follow-up interview for the Pivot podcast. :)

Download the free worksheet that goes with this episode below. Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at PivotMethod.com/142.

 Topics We Cover

  • What we binge watch and what it says about the qualities that we value

  • Private subscription channels pushing the limits of television

  • Steaming videos on-demand build an atmosphere of plenitude that entice us into a "walled garden"

  • The "Freemium" economy is evolving to say "subscribe" - it applies to service-based businesses

  • Hyper-abundance is more (on balance) a good thing than bad by leveraging what you are already doing and putting it into different formats

  • A fundamental mutation in TV's DNA is happening before our eyes

  • The golden age of "Good Enough". Pilling on the digital heaps of "Great-ish" content so we don't go looking elsewhere

  • Implementing quiet time meetings - What do you wish...? What is missing?

  • Don’t buy into the idea of zero sum as there is still room for new voices, believe that it’s possible

  • Pleasing the masses, entertaining as many people as possible, and please the world

  • Thoughts on Silicon Valley mindset to scale at all cost

  • Asking yourself “What can you try?”

  • New fresh ideas and approaches come in after hitting the innovator’s dilemma

  • Scaling is not the end all be all but systems certainly help

Resources Mentioned

Books:

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