Hello, and welcome to Protocol Entertainment, your guide to the business of the gaming and media industries. This Friday, we’re taking a look at how smart TV platforms are failing to simplify search and discovery. Also: what to read, watch and play this weekend.
Content worst
It’s been seven years since Tim Cook famously declared that “the future of TV is apps.” Since then, almost everyone in the industry, including Apple, has come to the conclusion that Cook was wrong. Turns out that people don’t want to spend their evenings jumping from one app to another just to find something to watch.
The industry’s new paradigm is “content first.” Amazon, Google, Samsung and others all have begun to bring personalized content recommendations directly to the TV home screen. Add universal search and watch lists, and people don’t even have to think about where a show streams from anymore — or so goes the theory.
Content first is a good idea, don’t get me wrong. However, in reality it has turned into the opposite of what it was supposed to achieve: Instead of giving people easier access to their favorite shows, it is trapping them in illogical loops caused by business disputes. What’s more, content first has led to a world in which every app, service and surface tries to do everything, everywhere, all at once, and badly so.
- A good example of this is “Yellowjackets.” The drama about a high school soccer team that survives a plane crash aired on Showtime in 2021. If I ask my Google...
Read Full Story: https://www.protocol.com/newsletters/entertainment/smart-tvs-content-first
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.