Commentary

TV, Video Attention Is Exhausting - Make A Voice Call Already!

Too much video. Do we all need to be stars on the screen? There is a lot of work -- brain-work in particular -- that says we need a break from the video screen. But not for everything.

The latest scientific research shows our energy is being sapped by Zoom meetings, as well as Cisco Webex, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. Perhaps we can add interested parties and family members, alongside U.S. workers.

Increasingly, TV Watch has notice on many Zoom meetings -- for press conferences and the like -- reporters just easily opt out of the video portion of the call, going only with audio. All that prep time in getting the right flower arrangements, ring lighting and professional-looking microphones takes up a lot of neuron activity.

This isn’t to say video doesn’t have its place with virtual meetings, especially in business settings where data-heavy charts and trend lines can significantly add to understanding of content.

Mentality there is a much easier approach, according to the experts: Making a voice call. There is something to be said about the ease of audio. Podcasts keep growing in terms of ad revenue and usage. Clubhouse recently made a name for itself as an audio-based social-media platform.

advertisement

advertisement

Going in the other direction, we see how the TV upfronts have  made a meal of _virtual video events. Media agency, marketing and other TV executives can easily consume those presentations -- full of new TV program video --- with the ease of their mobile devices while lounging on the beach.

The connection with real, live people -- a traditional component of live TV upfront events? That’ll come at another time.

And then, of course, there is rampant rise of watching professionally produced movies or TV scripted or unscripted video on live, linear TV or streaming services. We are all in -- perhaps more so than ever before. Consumption continues to soar.

Is a future adjustment in how we really use these more personal-video platforms coming? Who’s next in needing the attention of the big screen?

1 comment about "TV, Video Attention Is Exhausting - Make A Voice Call Already!".
Check to receive email when comments are posted.
  1. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, June 1, 2021 at 9:37 a.m.

    You make a very important point, Wayne. While many people who comment on  Netflix, the so-called "streaming wars" the need for more and more "content", mergers to obtain said content, etc. their focus seems to  always be on high intensity movies and edgy one-hour drama series as if that's all that is important to an average consumer. Not so if you look at the facts. We are told that the "average adult" watches about five hours of TV/video  per day and this being only a statistical calculation, in reality some watch more ---or much more--- than the norm while others go in the opposite direction. However, those who far exceed the norm and are classed as "frequent" viewers---or "couch potatos"----dominate the scene time spent-wise. Ten percent of all adults do 30% of the viewing. Add another decile and 20% does 55%  of all viewing. Can anyone imagine these people devoting all of that time, day after day, to high intensity, attention demanding, fare? Of course not---even if there was that much good stuff to watch---and there isn't---such a diet would frazzle the brains of the audience---leaving us a nation of TV/video zombies. That's why all of the other content---news, talk, sports, game shows, reality, sitcoms, old movies, etc, ---takes up so much more of our viewing time than high involvement programs. Without being able to relax while watching much of what comes across our TV screens, we'd all go bonkers.

Next story loading loading..
About the Author

Wayne Friedman is West Coast Editor of MediaPost. You can reach Wayne at wayne@mediapost.com.