Or maybe it’s everyone’s fault.
Perhaps it should be everyone’s fault, because tepid content is everyone’s problem. Well, okay… it’s a shared responsibility; but one thing’s clear: The numbers affect everybody:
Not just the CAAs, WMEs, KOLs and creators, but the studios as well – it’s all ripples in the same pond. And it's not just about the capacity to reward talent fairly on an individual level, it’s also emblematic in the message sent out to the town about business with you. So a less milky understanding will need to be brokered, or there will be a problem. But it hasn’t happened yet. Like I said, it’s all still new frontier. And against its murky borders we will measure our success by our adaptability.
Adaptability is a very powerful thing. To go back to the apocryphal zombie killing parable, slaying the living dead became far easier once I exploited my environment. There are exploding barrels hidden all around the map. Those that use them gain an advantage. Brian Eno understood the same thing about the record industry: It couldn’t last forever. But capitalize on that bubble and you were lucky. Likewise, if you found a source of whale blubber in the 1840s, you were a rich man. But if gas comes along and you fail to adapt (“Sorry mate,” says Eno. “History’s moving along.”), it becomes clear that timing and flexibility are everything. Which is why Nirvana’s Nevermind was perfect for the nineties, defining the sociocultural affront at the vapidity of the Generation X paradigm in the Reagan era. This is probably why Gun & Roses suck now.
What’s interesting about this evolution in the television business is that its entire business model is changing. The core of our industry is advertising-based, but people are skipping ads, companies are turning away from TV commercials, and networks are going “Oh God. We’re losing so much money. What do we do now?” And it’s true; in this fragmented, post-advertising market, monetization is the major issue to tackle. MCNs started signing tons of channels into their network, consolidating power before going to advertisers, sharing resources, and working together to amplify their audience. But relative to the number of eyeballs on content, the average Google ad share revenue payout for Youtube creators is still pitifully small. And it’s not a model that works for everyone: Lindsey Doe’s 20,000 views on her weekly “Sexplanations” videos net an especially low ad CPM since they’re flagged “non-brand safe.” Sure, there’s a whole different land of opportunity available. But the most effective way of monetizing content for creators remain clouded in esotericism.