Why isn’t Live dying as people predicted? For years people have expected ‘on demand’ to totally kill off live. The flexibility of consumption offering too much of a pull for audiences who live in a ‘now’ culture. But it just doesn’t seem to be happening. - The Traitors averaged 5.4 million live viewers each week - Super Bowl LVIII was the most watched live event in US TV history And we even see this translate on an everyday level, where Dizplai partner The United Stand go live to tens of thousands daily on a set schedule in the morning, afternoon and evening. I think the essence of live still taps into some inbuilt human traits. 👉 One part structure and habit 👉 One part shared experience 👉 One part audience engagement If you can consider the role human psychology makes in your live content, you’re on the road to success. #broadcast #sportsbiz #ott
Love The United Stand. Certainly ITV made a conscious effort with their franchises to push into ‘shared event’ TV. I think that’s much to do with their advertising income model. However The binge worthy high quality drama is still l the champion of the subscription services like Netflix and Disney+. I feel that sport will always, always have a live audience, because not live means it’s over and if you know the result, why watch it. Unless you’re a United fan of course, in which case best to see which United are showing up before you view!
Live sport will always be preferable to watch live - who wants to watch 90 minutes of Man United if you already know they lost? 😉 Traitors is watched live because it has become a collective cultural event - if you don’t watch it live, somebody will spoil it for you, and people like to discuss it with one another in real-time. If it’s happening right now, and you are interested, you will still watch it live - like the Queen’s funeral for example. Somthings are worth setting an appointment to view for. However, when you have an hour to watch TV, if one of the above examples is not on live at that time, you will watch on-demand rather than watch anything being streamed at that time.
I think there will always be a general and genuine human desire to punctuate their lives with cultural bookmarks, that ultimately come from shared live moments.
Ed Abis, your observations are spot on! The allure of live content is indeed deeply rooted in our human nature. The shared experience, the structure, and the engagement it offers are elements that even the most advanced AI or on-demand services can't replicate. It's a fascinating intersection of technology and human psychology, isn't it?
Couldn’t agree more Ed Abis Live seems to tap into a primal instinct for us to be connected to other humans
One word (acronym) FOMO
The best jeopardy....is live jeopardy.... I've been there and it can go horribly wrong. Which is why people love it too.
Strategic Advisor
6moIt’s important to make a distinction between “Live” & “Linear”. Big events & major news stories will always draw large audiences across all devices. Most people still have a TV connected to an aerial and that’s the easiest way to access content. Linear is different. There are still big sections of the audience that want an appointment to view, the issue for all broadcasters is that audience segment is getting older and older and will eventually disappear.