… except in this analysis, it’s TV versus cable: Bear Stearns analyst report on media value chains.
Great analysis of the media value chain, including content creation, content packaging, distribution, and user interface. However, the best part starts on slide 16, which covers a retrospective on TV versus cable, and fragmentation and trends that ensued.
TV started out at 3 channels, then went to ~40 with cable, and now 125+ with digital cable. What happened with this proliferation of choice?
– Overall demand for TV went up
– Audiences fragmented
– Hits became less big
In the long run, the “long tail” of TV now drives more revenue than broadcast TV. Very interesting to look at the history of media to understand the potential impact of podcasts, video games, and other new media channels.