The Great Streaming War of the early 2020s is finally over. Like so many wars, this one ends with many losers, but no clear winner. And we, the viewing audience, are left with too many choices and too much cost. Let’s briefly recall why the Streaming War was fought. Not long ago, SVoD (streaming video […]
The recent Royal Wedding can teach us some valuable lessons about the future of television suggests Larry Gerbrandt. The US viewership numbers are in for the recent telecast of the wedding of Britain’s Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle and they tell a fascinating story on how viewers are still using traditional linear […]
Larry Gerbrandt takes time out at Thanksgiving to explain how digital technology is changing US lifestyle and traditions. Ask the average US citizen to name their favourite holiday and the answer is likely to be ‘Thanksgiving’. It is a holiday (always celebrated on the third Thursday of November) steeped in generations of tradition. It not […]
It’s the question that pops up among the never ending stream of news releases, press briefings, blogs and articles about the latest consumer technology. Is this new tech the next big thing or the next colossal bust? Inevitably, comparisons to the spectacular rise and fall of 3D TV are made, but are they valid? Have […]
By Larry Gerbrandt Digital has been a decidedly mixed blessing for the television industry. Digital compression has led to the creation of hundreds of new channels, HDTV, IPTV, streaming media (from YouTube to Netflix), video-on-demand and digital video recorders. It has also made television viewing measurement a nightmare. While much of the recent growth in […]
Larry Gerbrandt offers expert advice to anyone planning an OTT channel launch. Is there anyone who isn’t starting an online video channel for the OTT market? Having just wrapped up a consulting gig assisting a client to develop an economic and programming model for a start-up Over-The-Top online channel, some of the lessons (and battle […]
According to Larry Gerbrandt, the habits of ‘millennial’ viewers in the US are causing broadcasters to re-evaluate business models. The viewing data has been piling up for months, but has turned into a potentially apocalyptic trend line: according to Nielsen viewing data, traditional TV viewing has dropped 10.6% between September and January among the 18-34 […]
Larry Gerbrandt finds parallels between the development of the aviation and television industries. I spent several summers working my way through college in a fruit-canning plant where my grandfather was a manager. During one of our evening conversations, it dawned on me that he had witnessed the entire evolution of aviation, from the Wright Brothers […]
An overly generous Santa Claus left a very nice gift for me under the tree this year, a shiny new Apple iPad Mini with both WiFi and 4G access. Considering I already own a first generation full size iPad, an iTouch, two Apple iPhone 4s, the latest Apple MacBookPro, a MacMini, a MacPro tower and […]
Larry Gerbrandt in Los Angeles raises the spectre of the unwelcome return of relative valuation Like a bad horror movie franchise, some valuation concepts seem to keep coming back for another sequel in hopes that this time they’ve got it right. I’m talking about the biggest financial sink-hole ever created: ‘relative valuation’. The technique rose […]
