Commentary

What Happens When Media Platforms Exhaust Users?

Media futurists differ on impending importance. 

During MediaPost’s Outfront panel, “Upfront 2023-2024,” Barry Lowenthal, president of The Media Kitchen, made a somewhat bold prediction that Facebook won’t be as big a deal in future -- despite its rampaging growth in advertising revenue and consumer usage.

The key reason: Increasingly, consumers don’t feel good about themselves after engaging in Facebook content.

In part, the platform was built on the idea that Facebook users can become part of the big “party” -- involved in the cool conversation. That was Mark Zuckerberg’s initial idea when he started it at Harvard. 

For social media, all this evolved into FOMO -- fear of missing out. And that’s the problem: Users can grow weary.

But in the TV landscape for young consumers, it's not the same thing. Few shows are watercooler stuff anymore. The party isn’t on the screen, and it isn’t the party of your life -- real-life friends and family.

advertisement

advertisement

Still, if your 18-year-old daughter wants to catch up on a few “NCIS” episodes -- on the older-skewing CBS network -- she can do swithout o much consequence, at least from her friends.

Little consequence is attached to younger or older TV viewers who might buy CBS All Access for one month. They get caught up on a show and move on.

All this tentativeness will give media executives headaches in the near-term. Facebook may have some problems. (Didn’t Twitter go through some stuff, too?) So the key question for future media executives: What is the next media platform -- or company -- that will wear out its welcome?

1 comment about "What Happens When Media Platforms Exhaust Users?".
Check to receive email when comments are posted.
  1. brian ring from ring digital llc, May 4, 2018 at 4:26 p.m.

    Actually I think churning in and out of skinny catalogs is what will wear out its welcome first. Therefore what will happen after that is that consumers will be able to re-construct a larger bundle of diverse content services with more choice & convenience than ever before.

Next story loading loading..