Today's TV Top 10

TV biz in a basket for you. If you care about the TV business like we do and want to stay up on the latest but don’t have time to digest everything from everywhere– take advantage of our work: save this link and sign up for our weekly newsletter. Every day we’ll post the top ten (or more) articles on the business of TV disruption. And each day we’ll push what you missed to the bottom. So, you can stay on top of the news or at the end of the week have a sick batch of news to skim through. You’re welcome, we love you.Hulu and The Fight For Real-Time TVFortune -- Michal Lev-RamThe privately held Hulu has about 12 million subscribers and is reportedly worth roughly $6 billion—making it one-eighth as big as Netflix and one-tenth as valuable. It’s a go-to source for “catch-up” TV but not for original programming. Nobody to date has successfully integrated live and “archival” TV on one easy-to-use platform. Hulu could be the first.Viewing Preferences Vary Between Cord-Cutters, Cord-Nevers MediaPost -- Daisy WhitneyCord-cutters comprise 8% of the U.S. population and have an average age of 43, while cord-nevers are 34 on average and account for 9% of all consumers. More than half of cord-nevers are millennials, compared to 35% of cord-cutters. Cord-nevers have grown accustomed to watching video from a wider array of sources.Hulu Grooms Its Tech Stack To Support Advanced TVAdExchanger -- Kelly LiyakasaAlthough Hulu grew up with digital DNA, more than 70% or more of Hulu viewing now happens in the living room through connected devices. In the OTT environment there are no cookies, so Hulu had to augment its offerings.Infographic: Here’s the Difference Between 5 Top Streaming Services for Live TVAdweek --  Dianna McDougall and Sami MainThere’s been a rise in users of smart TVs and connected devices, like Apple TV or Roku, and Orlik thinks marketers would be wise to advertise on as many platforms as possible and embrace the digital conversion quickly. TV-connected devices make up roughly 23 percent of average weekly video minutes viewed by adults ages 18-34, which is more than double that of PCs, smartphones and tablets combined.ESPN layoffs a sign that live sports TV industry is in crisisTodayESPN’s move to lay off some 100 journalists and on-air talent on Wednesday is also the clearest sign yet of the transformation upending the sports broadcasting industry, and the growing crisis it is in as more people increasingly turn away from cable television. Viewers have moved on from consuming live sports in its traditional forms to watching video clips and live streaming on their mobile devices.Here’s What Advertisers Should Note From Google Parent Alphabet’s EarningsThe Wall Street Journal -- Mike ShieldsThe subscription streaming service called YouTube TV is only available in five cities so far, and it’s still very early days for the newly launched live TV offering, said Mr. Pichai. The company is first and foremost “very focused on consumer experience,” he said. Mr. Pichai also said that TV ads overall have “not evolved at the same speed” as digital ads, and Google now has a “significant opportunity to improve the experience.”NAB: Social Media ‘Crucial to Future of Network TV’Digital TV EuropeNBC Chairman Bob Greenblatt said that social media is key to bringing audiences back to network television in the US, adding that this has been a priority for him at NBC. He expects traditional broadcast, social, and digital to become “one big thing”. As ratings on shows can now be tracked over time, nightly ratings will become less important. “We couldn’t track those numbers in the past,” he said. “It is about looking at the long-tail of the show.”What Advertisers Need to Know About How People Discover Videos and New ShowsAdweek -- Sami MainA study also shows how viewers hear about new projects. For TV shows, commercials on television seem to do the trick for 56 percent of people, while word of mouth works for 47 percent. Once people hear about a new TV show, most use their TV’s guide or menu to find the actual show, while about a third of them use a subscription-service menu to find it. Once they’ve decided on a program, 54 percent of TV viewers watch it live, 38 percent stream it and 31 percent record it on their DVR.These Were Last Week’s 5 Biggest Spenders on New TV AdsAdweek --  Erik OsterAdvertisers spent nearly $871 million on broadcast placement for the week of April 17, according to data from Kantar Media, with around 13 percent of that spent on new creative. For the five brands that spent the most on new TV advertising, however, new creative accounted for 63 percent of their total spend, or around $25.5 million.Targeted Linear TV Advertising Provides $100 Billion Opportunity, Credit Suisse SaysTheStreet -- Giovanni BrunoIn a note to clients today, Credit Suisse estimated that U.S. TV advertising revenues will climb to between 5% and 7% from 2% per year in 2017-2030. Programmatic TV platforms are a $100 billion opportunity, the bank noted.Here Are the Differences Between the Major Skinny Cable Streaming ServicesAdweek -- Sami MainA study by Convergence Online predicts a loss of 2.11 million TV subscribers in 2017. Meanwhile, U.S. OTT access revenue is predicted to rise to $11.2 billion this year. Convergence Online indicates cable will continue to crush broadband subscribers as a trend.TV Industry Braces for Disruption From Possible WGA StrikeVariety -- Daniel HollowayThe WGA contract with producers expires at midnight on May 1st and has the potential to boil over into a full-fledged strike if the two groups can’t come to an agreement. Threats of a writer’s strike may have implications for advertisers at Newfronts and may result in a heavy shift to unscripted shows.IP Video Generating Only 3% of Broadcast Revenue but 90% of ThoughtFierceCable -- Daniel FrankelEven though over-the-top distribution is currently generating only about 3% of broadcast industry revenue, broadcasters are aggressively moving to all-IP delivery for a host of advantages. Once you get to a point of all IP and virtualization, and move to a cloud-based model, you change your business model from hardware centric to software centric model, and you create new work flows and models that are monetized in entirely different ways