34 october 2019

How has the business of tCB media rights evolved? The business of TCB Media Rights has gone from strength to strength this year. Business wise, we have doubled our revenue in the last 2 years. This reflects not only our growth as a business but also the appetite for quality factual content globally. As ever, we are working closely with producers to res-pond to market demands. We have also been expanding our “TCB Originals” repertoire to include a wide variety of programmes, from exposing a cult leader in ‘How I Created a Cult’, to exploring the psychology behind some of the most notorious murderers in Making a Monster. These are programmes which we have commissioned with no lead broadcaster as yet, so it is an exciting opportunity for channels worldwide. Which is the main focus of tCB media rights for the Q4?In an ever-changing landscape in the distribution industry, we are proving to be a successful company and greatly va-lue our professional relationships with clients and produ-cers. Our main focus for the last part of the year is to build on and reinforce what has already been a strong 2019. We are also focusing on 2020 so ensure that we continue to provide a high standard of service to our clients. Our TCB Originals reflect an increase in programming for which we have editorial input, which allows us to be mindful of channels’ requirements internationally. Which are the most highlighted titles for mIpCom?We are launching 40 titles and over 300 hours at MIPCOM, including returning series, with a strong and varied line-up. We have new series such as ‘Hitched in Vegas’, which follows couples as they get married in Las Vegas, and a fantastic feature documentary ‘$50 Million Art Swindle’, revealing the extraordinary story of a faux art dealer. We have commissio-ned ‘How Did They Build That?’, celebrating some of the most incredible feats of engineering around the world.We are also launching further series of programmes already launched, showing the continued demand for some of our brands, such as: ‘Abandoned Engineering S4’, ‘Extreme Love Stories S2’, ‘Giant Lobster Hunters S2’ and ‘Massive Engineering Mistakes S2’. How do you see the Industry and the evolution of consumption? The industry is thriving at the moment. Viewers are beco-ming more demanding and discerning, which means pro-ducers and distributors have to keep up with the quality expected. They are also insatiable, watching programmes everywhere: while travelling, while at home, in waiting rooms, with friends or family, on their own. The appetite for premium content and series continues to be strong. I do not think that consumption will decline for good quality programming. People want to learn something new and also to switch off from their daily lives. So, there are programmes in the market to suit every taste.

lenneke de JonG

“We Have Been expandIng our ‘tCB orIgInalS’ repertoIre”

The Sales Manager, TCB Me-dia Rights describes the evolu-tion of the company after dou-bling the revenue in 2 years.

Contents NewsliNe RepoRt

contenidos.indd 34 3/10/2019 23:43:19

2019 october 35

Disney confirmed that its forthco-ming Disney Plus streaming service will release episodes of original se-ries on a weekly schedule, “ditching” the binge-watching model of Netflix, as some put it.Rich Greenfield, a veteran media analyst, noted that the release strategy of current and forthcoming streaming platforms seems to be split squarely across “tech plat-forms” following bingeable schedu-les and “legacy media” companies releasing episodes of their original content on a week-to-week basis, as they traditionally had.Greenfield and others on Twitter positioned this divergence of strate-gies as “consumer first vs. business model first.” They posited that relea-sing every episode of a TV season at the same time, allowing viewers to watch them on their own schedule, is a better consumer experience, while a weekly release schedule, which requires viewers to sustain their subscriptions to watch the same show over months, is a better corporate business model.It’s true that Netflix has prospered and disrupted legacy media compa-nies with the bingeable model that it pioneered with its original se-ries, House of Cards in 2013. It was a completely novel experience for consumers to have access to an en-tire season of a TV show at the same time. Instead of watching a show across months, viewers could watch an entire new season in a week (or

a weekend!) if they so desired.But perhaps the enjoyment of this novelty overlooked the merits of traditional

weekly TV schedules. Is it possible that weekly episodes aren’t just a better business model, but can also foster a better viewing experience for consumers as well?

appointMent viewing, “watercooler” discussions, and coMMunity

Before Netflix, Hulu, DVR, and TiVo, the only way to watch TV shows was live, on a weekly schedule. If you happened to miss an episode one week, there was no way to catch-up unless you recorded it on your VCR or happened to catch it in syndica-tion years later. DVDs and electronic sell-through (EST, e.g. buying epi-sodes on iTunes) would eventually present an alternative, albeit at a much higher cost to already high cable bills. “Appointment viewing” was therefore the default for wat-ching TV — and it was more of a hostage situation than a choice that consumers could actively make.The streaming world of 2019 and beyond is very different than the broadcast TV era. If you don’t watch an episode of a show on HBO, Hulu, or Showtime (and soon to be Disney Plus) immediately, it’s still there, waiting for you when you’re ready. Some viewers let an entire season become available over months before choosing to binge-watch it, as they do with Netflix series. Others choose to participate in the advan-tages of a weekly release schedule,

particularly for heavily serialized dramas.The fan experience of a show relea-sed weekly goes beyond just viewing the episodes in quick succession. It’s communal, and it lasts longer. Below is a comparison of tweets-per-day for two shows back in 2015: Empire on Fox, which aired weekly and the bingeable Orange is the New Black on Netflix. For OITNB, there’s a short spike of social conversation when a new season is released that quickly dies down, at least partially because fans aren’t on the same viewing schedule. Of course, tweets don’t equal viewership, and despite a lack of sustained Twitter conver-sation, Orange is the New Black is the longest-running Netflix original series to date and has been viewed by more people than Empire. But it still isn’t a shared experience. In a time of rising loneliness and isola-tion, perhaps the community of TV fandom is a positive asset for mental health. Some studies have even linked binge-watching to depression and loneliness.

FaMiliarity and sustained exposure over tiMe

Although the examples above pri-marily concern serialized dramatic content, weekly release schedules can also benefit TV comedies. As I’ve written about before (“How Binge-Watching Doomed Comedy”), a key ingredient in TV comedy is a familiarity and relationship with characters that can only be deve-loped through sustained exposure over time. Familiarity allows expectations to be subverted, run-ning gags to land, and affection for characters and their relationships to develop.

TeCh Vs. mediA

WHICH tv StreamIng Strategy IS Better?

The merits of ‘bingeable’ and weekly relea-se schedules for TV shows.

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