- 3-Year Streaming Outlook: Slowing Down Pricing Hikes
by
Wayne Friedman
(Advanced TV Insider on
08/26/2026)
Would be great to understand churn. I use one platform consistently month to month, but supplement with another platform for a month or two before I unsubscribe and switch to another platform. No more than 2 services per month and only one consistently throughout the year. I only have two streaming platforms for about six months out of the year during the colder/winter months. The variety of streaming services and higher costs are literally devolving into what we started using them for in the first place.
- Our Digital World Is No Place For The Elderly
by
Gord Hotchkiss
(Media Insider on
08/11/2026)
My father was blind in one eye and his other eye had blurred vision.
The optometrist office had a visual captcha puzzle necessary to access his account.
The level of stupidity and incompetence is unfortunately, normal
- Expletive Not Deleted: Turns Out Elon Musk Meant Himself
by
Joe Mandese
(Red, White & Blog on
08/05/2026)
He didn't tell "the ad industry"to F off. He said any advertiser who is going to tell him what kind of content is/isn't appropriate and using their ad dollars as investment can F off.
Advertisers threatening to remove or reduce their ad spend based on editorial coverage or content is nothing new. A publisher not kowtowing to the threat and telling the advertiser he doesn't care is.
- The Bullshit Pulpit
by
Joe Mandese
(Red, White & Blog on
07/17/2026)
The real story here is how irrelevant the legacy networks have become. We were told not to believe our eyes and ears when Biden was stumbling through every TV appearance - and they were few and far between. So while Trump spews BS, at least we can see it and hear it for ourselves and make a determination vs. being told by the press secretary and presidential aids how "sharp" Joe Biden was as POTUS and how his own press secretary couldn't keep up with him.
Bullshitter or not - who the POTUS is or not - is irrelevant. The legacy networks have little to no impact on getting general public interest. This is not new(s).
- Netflix Should Fix Its 'Tune-In' Problem With Linear TV Ads
by
Dave Morgan
(Media Insider on
07/16/2026)
A. Netflix viewers are primarily watching premium linear TV - like live sports - which carry a massive premium to reach a small segment who may watch a specific Netflix series
B. Netflix uses its own homescreen to remind viewers of a new series and to watch a new season - the homescreen is tailored to each viewer - you can't get more targeted than that
C. Maybe Netflix's programs just suck and that's why they can't get people to come back to a series or tune in.
D. It's the content, stupid
- Parties Find Common Ground: News Sources They Trust Least
by
Joe Mandese
(Red, White & Blog on
06/26/2026)
Seems like a highly flawed and misleading analysis.The poll does not take into account the scale differences through the distortion of familiarity. It's silly to take a broad poll where niche outlets with small audiences (The Daily Caller, National Review) are unknown to most survey respondents. This results in a high volume of "Don't Know" or neutral answers, which artificially compresses their scores close to zero (±0) and makes them falsely appear "equally trusted." Conversely, massive outlets (NBC, Fox News) are recognized by almost everyone, whether they watch or not, generating strong, polarizing reactions that pull their scores to the extreme ends of the spectrum.
It also treats entirely different content models as identical. The comparison forces properties with fundamentally distinct purposes into the same category. It stacks a universally utilized, non-political outlet like The Weather Channel against commercial, 24-hour cable and broadcast networks (Fox News, NBC) that mix hard news with highly polarized evening opinion blocks.
I'd like to understand how they chose these properties and why MP, along with other outlets, constantly conflates opinion and talking heads with "news." The Daily Wire's about section literally states that it is about "news, opinion, and entertainment...The Daily Wire does not claim to be without bias. We’re opinionated, we’re noisy...The Daily Wire was meant to be something unique in the right-of-center media landscape."
It's like asking who do you trust to get medical advice? Your doctor, the Mayo Clinic, Joe Rogan, or Oprah?
It's not even close to being apples to apples.
- '60 Minutes': Top News Show, Makes Money - But That Isn't Enough
by
Wayne Friedman
(TV Watch on
06/04/2026)
When the majority of your on air talent is between 60 and 84 years of age, it's hard to argue that changes aren't needed moving forward.
The median age of the 60 Minutes of viewer is 65. Hardly the age group you want to build a future franchise on. A bit too early to see how the long game works out and the people who've been sitting in their anchor seats for 40+ years really shouldn't be complaining that it's tileto start moving in a new direction.
- Speaking Truthiness To Power
by
Joe Mandese
(TV Watch on
05/22/2026)
"It was that he was so focused on keeping the light on Trump's flaws and antics that it reminded us we still live in an America where someone can do that. Until last night."
Late night TV's creation and intention was to entertain people before they zonked out for the night. Leave the office and politics and troubles behind - you tuned in to get a few laughs and be entertained. Nobody was tuning in to hear some schmuchk give his take on "keeping the light" on the President's perceived flaws. That's what the news networks have devolved to 24/7.
Admittedly, I was a fan of Colbert when he was on Comedy Central. I was genuinely excited when he went to Late Nite. After watching him for a month or so, I tuned out as I was incredibly disappointed that he was so partisan and so predictible so quickly. I was tuning in to be entertained. He wasn't entertaining. He wasn't offering an escape from the noise - he was amplifying it.
Colbert was not, and is not, unique. He's just one of many fighting for a decreasing piece of pie of people who somehow want to relish in rage.
What's he going to do next?
He's going to follow the path of Como, Lemon, Joy Reid, etc. He's going to have a YouTube channel that will launch to great fanfare and his views and following will falter without a machine like CBS to promote his repetitive, unoriginal dribble.
It's not satire. It's not sophisticated. It's certainly not original.
It's just repetitive, infantile babble - and the irony is it's not much different than Trump himself.
Now that is funny.
- Colbert Was Adored By Fans, But He Killed CBS Late Night
by
Adam Buckman
(TVBlog on
05/21/2026)
I was a big fan of Colbert before he went to CBS. If anything, I thought he was going to reinvigorate my personal desire to watch this (then) coveted time slot and have a few good laughs before turning in.
Within the first month or so, I was like "WTF, why is this so political?" Not just the monologue, the conversations with the guests. When Colbert was on Comedy Central, his show, while political, was entertaining and absurd and took shots at all sides. The Late Show is an entertainment show first - and he just turned up the partisan, political nonsense by 100% almost out of the gate.
At some point, his comedic jabs turned into flat out hate not only for Trump, but for "the right" in general.
Yes - Colbert certainly killed Late Night, and he made a ton of money doing it. In the process, the networks have lost one of their last great bastions to pull in "must see TV" and appointment viewing.
I'm sure he'll launch a podcast and like his Jon Stewart before him, you'll see that he doesn't pull in the kind of viewing, or revenue, that he was getting on CBS. But he seems perfectly content to yell into his own echo chamber.
- Local TV Broadcasters Need To Take Bigger Role In National Ad Game
by
Dave Morgan
(Media Insider on
05/21/2026)
I don't think it has anything to do with ratings.
National TV buy budgets are separate from local ad budgets - they are not interchangeable. And you could argue that a type of "localization" is already available on national buys with local tags which cable TV led the way many years ago.
Local TV buys are typically more market/region specific in messaging and/or the brand is looking to heavy up reach or frequency in certain markets after the efficiencies from a national buy are in place.
And don't even get me started on how flawed Nielsen ratings have been for the past 20 years.