TV is Dead and Never been Better

The general consensus is that broadcast television is running itself off the proverbial cliff, beset as it is on all sides by competitors and alternatives in delivery, experience and business model – online, download, DVD box sets, file-sharing, gaming, time-shifting and the list goes on.

And yet, in contradiction, we seem to be living in the golden age of the long-form, episodic TV drama. The Wire, Deadwood, Sopranos, West Wing, MadMen, Breaking Bad, Dexter, Queer as Folk, Carnivale… And its not just the yanks, British TV pulls its weight; Spooks, Skins, Wire in the blood, State Within, The Tudors, Rome… And even Australian TV has coughed up some goodies; the outstanding EastWest 101, Summer Heights High, Love my way, Underbelly, RAN….

Its seems like a bit of a conundrum to me – ratings are down, the TV revenue model is collapsing, everyone is tuning out to watch other media or at least skipping the ads when they watch old media and yet we are making the Best TV, dare I say the Best Screen Drama of any kind, the world has ever seen, Right Now…!

Shows like MadMan have had profound cultural impact in the popular psyche (a range of MadMen Barbie figures and centre-page spreads in Vogue dedicated to the show) and yet the ratings for MadMen are actually very ordinary. The Wire was the same, broadcast ratings low and yet does anyone actually know anyone who hasn’t seen, wants to see or is currently talking excitedly about The Wire…?

The channel AMC in the united states was traditionally a channel for re-runs of ‘classic tv’ but has re-invented itself as a channel for ‘quality drama’ and even adopted the new slogan of “story matters here”. AMC’s first big hits have been MadMen and Breaking Bad – two shows that rate around a million viewers. In the massive US market a million viewers is chicken feed and barely enough to keep a show on the air.  Yet evidently AMC think that not only is this audience good but that there is a solid business model in producing such ‘niche’ product… All in an era where TV as a business model is collapsing, advertisng is contracting and illegal downloading is commonplace.

What this tells us is that Ratings Arent Everything…. That there must be other factors that measure a shows ‘worth’ and ‘value’.

This idea is touched on in a short article by Craig Engler who is the VP of the SyFy channel in the US. he provides a list of 12 things he takes into account when evaluating shows and potential shows. Notably he singles out the fact that “some shows lend themselves to big, sprawling Web sites with webisodes, podcasts, and mobile comics that help us build and sustain an audience.” Perhaps the key idea here is audience building rather than audience ratings…?

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/05/10/a-dozen-reasons-tv-s.html

+++

- Mike J