Hot List: Predictions, Reflections, And Exclusives To Kick Off 2025
“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better person” - Benjamin Franklin
Aaand we’re back!
As usual, we’ve got a collection of originals with perspectives from our analysts, journalists and executives — only this time we’ve got some fresh perspectives from Wolk, Hanlon, Cassillo, Semeraro, Kontonis, with special contributions from veteran journalist Jon Lafayette, binge recommendations from a dozen TVREV thought leaders and more.
But first, as we head into CES week, a reminder that as much as it can seem like everyone has been talking about the same thing for years, things are indeed changing fast.
When we started 10 or so years ago;
There were 111 million pay TV subscribers, now we are half that.
As Alan Wolk readied to publish Over The Top: How The Internet Is (Slowly But Surely) Changing The Television Industry, a revolution was at hand.
SmartTVs and dongles were starting to reshape the marketplace with “OTT” apps like Netflix, Hulu, and Crackle. Networks resisted trading digital dimes for the lucrative pay bundle monopolies from MVPDs.
Now, as our reporting has shown, 60% of the time a TV is turned on, it’s tuned to streaming.
Social platforms like Facebook were starting to tinker with live video, networks were still trying to make second screen happen and TV Everywhere was still a thing
Now: TikTok and Meta are serving billions of views a day and YouTube is a streaming TV giant in its own right.
VIZIO had just licensed something called ACR to iSpot, which had already blown open transparency for TV measurement by introducing the first real-time way to track advertising. Now with screen level accuracy the market has verified impressions, attention and attribution.
Today there is a thriving measurement industry where linear data is just one of many inputs. (Now if only everyone could agree on what a “view” was…)
At TVREV, as with our parent company Fabric and our sister publication The Measure, we have found focusing on the future is a rewarding way to stay in business. Not only are we always learning, but we can find ways to help most anyone in need of it. By delivering exclusive content, championing innovations from our partners, creating reports, holding town halls and connecting our readers to the industry at large, we are honored to be with you for another year—stay tuned, we have many exciting things ahead.
Let’s do even more together in 2025!
Thank you for your support!
Here’s what you missed in TVREV over the holidays:
Tim Hanlon talks with leading DC communications attorney David Oxenford for a reading of the inside-the-Beltway tea leaves.
Jon Lafayette gives us his take on ESPN’s playbook for the expanded College Football playoffs, and Roku’s sports streaming play.
Paul Kontonis shares 5 Netflix insights in 2024 that are shaking up the streaming world.
Asaf Greiner explains how improvements in ad verification create opportunities for growth.
Alan Wolk wraps up 2024 with a plea for cooperation and looks at how our fearless predictions fared, and shares our fearless predictions for 2025.
Eleanor Semeraro highlights the most-watched TV programming of 2024.
And check out an exclusive interview with Pedro Almeida on how Mediaprobe is turning emotional engagement into a metric that matters.
