Here is how the calculation works: you make a product, you stick it on air, you get an audience, and you sell advertising based on that audience.
Some programs can never hope to get the sort of audience to pay for the cost of the show. Enter Government support or brand sponsorship – in other words, a financial support mechanism to make a show that would not have otherwise been made.
I made a show called ‘Sunday’ years back. It was on TV3 on the weekend off peak. It didn’t rate very well, but it was never going to, but it rated fairly well for what it was, which was a niche program talking about the arts.
It was made with NZ On Air money.
Now, does Treasure Island attract more viewers than that? Yes.
So if you are going to toss money at something why not that? You get more bang for buck.
But the money tree hasn’t got more money, so someone loses. Maybe it's an arts program.
The really scary thing is the calculation around peak time i.e. prime time.
This show makes money and quite a lot of it. Newstalk ZB is profitable. TVNZ and TV3 are not.
So what about pay-per-view? SkyTV is profitable, but they have sport.
What does TV3 or TVNZ have that you would pay for? Would you pay to watch Treasure Island? Of course you wouldn’t.
So prime time linear TV is not profitable because the advertising dollars have vanished to Google and TikTok and Meta.
That is not changing and that’s the problem, because all that's left is the taxpayer.
The big question is to what extent should the taxpayer fund your evening's entertainment? And when I say you, I mean those who are left watching the TV as opposed to YouTube or Netflix.
If linear TV can't make a buck at 7.30pm on a Wednesday, how long before the lights get switched off?
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings - where this article was sourced.
I made a show called ‘Sunday’ years back. It was on TV3 on the weekend off peak. It didn’t rate very well, but it was never going to, but it rated fairly well for what it was, which was a niche program talking about the arts.
It was made with NZ On Air money.
Now, does Treasure Island attract more viewers than that? Yes.
So if you are going to toss money at something why not that? You get more bang for buck.
But the money tree hasn’t got more money, so someone loses. Maybe it's an arts program.
The really scary thing is the calculation around peak time i.e. prime time.
This show makes money and quite a lot of it. Newstalk ZB is profitable. TVNZ and TV3 are not.
So what about pay-per-view? SkyTV is profitable, but they have sport.
What does TV3 or TVNZ have that you would pay for? Would you pay to watch Treasure Island? Of course you wouldn’t.
So prime time linear TV is not profitable because the advertising dollars have vanished to Google and TikTok and Meta.
That is not changing and that’s the problem, because all that's left is the taxpayer.
The big question is to what extent should the taxpayer fund your evening's entertainment? And when I say you, I mean those who are left watching the TV as opposed to YouTube or Netflix.
If linear TV can't make a buck at 7.30pm on a Wednesday, how long before the lights get switched off?
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings - where this article was sourced.
3 comments:
Switch it off now!
Its programming and NZ on Air are biased, racist and quite frankly responsible for the production of utter drivel in recent years.
If you’re not a gay trans Maori or other so called minority then you aren’t allowed to appear on screen.
Mike it’s a wonder you have ever appeared on their screen given you are a white man not dressed in drag.
Oddly enough my family watch programming on YouTube that is very similar to what nz on air used to fund but no longer does. Think “what now” without the lefty Māori wokeness… car shows that show real cars using actual petrol doing fun stuff. They even suffer the endless ad interruptions.
But threaten to cut off YouTube so they are forced to watch tvnz programming and they scream blue murder.
Go woke = go broke
They’ve (tvnz and nz on air) been warned.
Perhaps once a month on Free View TV the Māori channel might show an interesting movie.
And I'll watch delayed All Black tests on Sky free view.
Other than that, my television remains turned off at the wall for weeks on end.
The News on all channels has been too cringeworthy to endure for many years now and there seems to be an oversupply of cheaply made shows for non-talented comedians.
I'm not willing to pay for TV either I have better things to do with my life.
Have been streaming for 13 years.My nvidia android player has been pure gold over those years. Offspring used Kodi for years and before they set me up with the Nvidia. I have used TVNZ on demand all those years. I now have the new skybox as they gave it to me it produces a quality picture. Mainstream viewing has not been part of my life for even longer.I was faithful to RNZ until the racist Joanne Forbes and her ignorant Maori cohorts destroyed it.
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