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Alan Wolk shared thisBIG NEWS: I am turning my Feudal Media concept into a full-on BOOK, that will cover the rise and fall of the monoculture and the changes brought about by the rise of Feudal Media. It is due out in Fall 2026. Here’s a little teaser until then. INTRODUCTION For most of my life, whenever there was a major national, international or weather-based crisis, I would turn to the New York Times to learn what was going on. While I was well aware that the Times was not without its own biases, there was a feeling that their coverage of major news stories was generally fair, factual and above all, neutral, and that what I was able to glean from the paper’s coverage was reliable enough that I did not feel the need to go elsewhere unless I wanted a deeper dive. That changed this month with the start of the most recent Iran war. I would look at the Times and think “well, that’s one way to look at, I guess,” and immediately click over to The Wall Street Journal, Axios, The Times of Israel, the BBC, The Atlantic, Puck and The Free Press (to name a few) to triangulate all their takes before coming to a decision on what seemed to be real and what did not. Initially, I attributed my need to triangulate to the “fog of war,” from not having any Western journalists on the ground in Iran, but as the days wore on, the pattern remained. More surprising still, when I’d share this with friends from across the political spectrum, they would, almost to a one, report they’d been experiencing the same thing. And that we were all somewhat taken aback by the fact that this was happening. In retrospect though, it should not have been surprising. Not even a little. What we’ve been experiencing is what happens when the monoculture collapses and with it any single source of truth. What’s emerged in its stead is something I call “Feudal Media,” a series of mostly disconnected media bubbles, each with its own truth, its own celebrity influencers, its own memes and in-jokes, its own culture. Feudal Media extends far beyond the news to include everything from music and entertainment to art and comedy and cooking and health and fitness and everything in between. It’s an international phenomenon too, not just a U.S. one, and feudal media bubbles know no national borders. But why feudal media? Because at its core, the monoculture was a lot like ancient Rome. Where everywhere you went, there was a sense of standardization and uniformity. There was Latin. There was a system of roads and aqueducts. Towns were laid out in similar fashion no matter where in the Empire you went. There was a standard system of weights and measures. A common currency. Arts and sciences flourished and writers like Cicero and Suetonius were known throughout the region. And then it all just disappeared. The barbarians invaded. Cities collapsed. And eventually so did the Empire. Latin gave way to French, Spanish and Italian. Math and science gave way to.... [READ THE REST ON TVREV, LINK BELOW]
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Alan Wolk shared thisESSENTIAL READING; Very well-laid out take on why YouTube and TikTok are different beasts. If this is news to you, well worth your time. .Alan Wolk shared thisYouTube and TikTok don't sit in the same universe. Gen Z and Gen Alpha already know this. The data is even more brutal. The Tubi/TikTok deal isn't a strategy. It's a crap shoot. And the reason nobody's calling it that is because the industry keeps treating the creator economy as one thing — a single, unified ecosystem where audience is audience and content is content. It isn't. YouTube and TikTok operate on completely different physics. Conflating them isn't just imprecise — it's expensive. TikTok builds moments. YouTube builds archives. One evaporates. One compounds. These are not the same business. Here's what the numbers actually say: TikTok content half-life: effectively zero. 80% of engagement lands in the first few hours. Then it's gone. Instagram: 19 hours average. YouTube: 6+ days — and videos continue surfacing in search for years. The archive compounds. TikTok creator relevance window: 12–18 months before brand deals dry up and audiences move on. TikTok's algorithm surfaces content, not creators. Loyalty on TikTok is to the sound, the trend, the moment — not the person. Over 60% of TikTok creators report the algorithm dictates what they make. More than half report burnout affecting their motivation. These are not the profiles of people ready to develop a scripted television series. YouTube built a generation of creators with decade-long careers and audiences that travel with them. TikTok built a generation of moments. The distinction matters enormously when you're trying to build a content pipeline around borrowed fame. Now add this: Tubi's production pipeline takes 12–18 months from creator identification to air date. TikTok's creator relevance window is 90 days. Do the maths. By the time the first Creatorverse Incubator shows hit Tubi, the creators selected this summer will be introducing themselves to an audience that has already moved on. That's not a content strategy. That's a timing catastrophe dressed up as a NewFronts press release — announced four days before Tubi's IAB advertiser presentation. This isn't just Tubi. This is a streaming industry pattern. Platforms keep borrowing audience credibility from ecosystems they don't understand, on economics that don't translate. AVOD ad rates cannot support the kind of original production investment that actually retains creator-native audiences. The maths was broken before the deal was signed. What nobody is building: premium content infrastructure for vertical-native storytelling as its own category. That's the white space this deal accidentally confirms. Gen Z and Gen Alpha aren't confused about the difference between YouTube and TikTok. They live it every day. The streaming industry is the last to figure it out — and paying for the confusion with every deal like this one. The creator economy is not one thing. The sooner the industry stops treating it like it is, the sooner someone builds something that actually works. #CreatorEconomy #Streaming #VerticalContent
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Alan Wolk reposted thisAlan Wolk reposted thisThe NAB, Fox and Sinclair want the FCC to regulate the spread of pro sports rights to streaming. And TVREV’s Alan Wolk says their list of remedies read like “every broadcaster’s Christmas list.” Check out Alan’s latest Week in Review on StreamTV Insider, where he unpacks the remedies sought including: ➡️ End local and national broadcast ownership caps ➡️ Speed up the transition to ATSC 3.0 ➡️ Do away with the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 Read for why it matters and what you need to do about it. https://lnkd.in/eVDEx64wWolk’s Week in Review: NAB, Fox and Sinclair Play The News CardWolk’s Week in Review: NAB, Fox and Sinclair Play The News Card
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Alan Wolk shared thisThis week, the NAB, Fox and Sinclair all approached the FCC to ask them to stop letting streaming services have their way with live sports. They claimed their motives were pure--they were just trying to protect local news. But was that really the motive or was there more at stake? We unpack. Plus just 10 days until our TVREV "SHIFT HAPPENS" workshop at StreamTV Show Europe. With an all-star line-up: Andreas Waltenspiel ⭐ Bernd Riefler ⭐ Daniel Bravo ⭐ Dave Bernath ⭐ David Purdy ⭐ Geir R. Skaaden ⭐ Guy Edri ⭐ Holger Enßlin ⭐Jack Q. Gao⭐ Joao Ferreira ⭐ Jonathan Broughton ⭐ Maria Rua Aguete⭐ Pedro Azevedo Duarte⭐ Tom Price ⭐ Tomasz Dzikowski 9 AM SHARP on Monday 13 April
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Alan Wolk shared thisIn the latest Marconi. TVREV's Europe-focused newsletter, Marion Ranchet explains why European audiences are still co-viewing, even though advertisers often assume they are not. Be sure to check out Marion's Streaming Made Easy workshop along with our "SHIFT HAPPENS" workshop first thing Monday morning at StreamTV Show Europe in Lisbon.Marion Ranchet: Europe Didn't Fragment, Your Strategy Assumed It DidMarion Ranchet: Europe Didn't Fragment, Your Strategy Assumed It Did
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Alan Wolk shared thisGreat interview with future The Webby Awards winner Evan Shapīro on kids and kids TV, where he also kindly calls out TVREV and Streaming Made Easy Link below
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Alan Wolk reposted thisAlan Wolk reposted thisA common refrain from CTV players at this year’s #NewFronts was “performance” – don’t miss TVREV Alan Wolk’s latest Week in Review on StreamTV Insider for key takeaways from presentations and his insights into why it matters and what you need to do about it. Plus, why OpenAI’s Sora shutdown shouldn’t be a total surprise. https://lnkd.in/etAKraKEWolk’s Week in Review: OpenAI Shuts Down Sora, NewFronts Take Performance LiterallyWolk’s Week in Review: OpenAI Shuts Down Sora, NewFronts Take Performance Literally
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Alan Wolk reposted thisAlan Wolk reposted thisLisbon in April x power players in streaming = pure joy. Smile on my face wider than the Atlantic. StreamTV Show Europe in my home country. Proud. Straight up. The lineup is loaded. Real operators. No theory. And yeah, this industry is in a moment. Call it turmoil. Call it a reset. Everyone feels it. Which is exactly why rooms like this matter. In a place that understands culture and innovation. With conversations led by Evan Shapīro. Alan Wolk. Marion Ranchet. Three different angles on the same reset. This is where the next wave forms. And let’s be honest… we need a big one to course correct. Who’s coming? April 13–15. Code PORTUGAL for 20% off. Vamos / Let’s Go!
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Alan Wolk liked thisAlan Wolk liked thisMost B2B marketing is built for the 5% who are ready to buy. That leaves a bigger question. What are we doing for the other 95%? I read Advanced Brand Positioning and The De-Positioning Matrix on holiday after Marty Marion kindly sent me a copy. One idea I'll be bringing home from holiday with me: buyers do not switch just since your message is clearer or your product is better. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒇𝒆, 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍, 𝒐𝒓 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈. That matters in B2B. Most buyers are not sitting there with an open mind, waiting for our campaign to arrive. They already have: a supplier a platform a process a default Which means the job is not always to build preference from scratch. Sometimes the real job is to loosen the attachment to what they already use. That was my biggest takeaway from the book. It gives a strong way to think about one of the hardest problems in B2B marketing: how to reach buyers who are not in market today, but are still moving closer to change. I wrote a longer article on it here, covering the ideas of buyer binding, switching costs, inertia, doubt, dissatisfaction, and why “better” is often not enough on its own. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡? ____ Please consider subscribing to my newsletter if you are not already. I write on topics about marketing, growth, AI and subscription bundling. You can also hit "save" to come back to this later.Why this book changed how I think about the other 95% of B2B buyersWhy this book changed how I think about the other 95% of B2B buyers
Experience & Education
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Publications
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Over The Top. How The Internet Is (Slowly But Surely) Changing The Television Industry
See publicationTelevision is the last mass medium to be disrupted by the Internet. Given the intricacies of the industry, it's also going to be the most resistant to change. Alan Wolk, an industry veteran and longtime analyst and observer, lays out how the television industry is adapting to the digital era, explaining what's really happening in a tone that will appeal to laypeople and insiders alike. In the first section, Wolk takes us through how the industry works today, focusing on how the various players…
Television is the last mass medium to be disrupted by the Internet. Given the intricacies of the industry, it's also going to be the most resistant to change. Alan Wolk, an industry veteran and longtime analyst and observer, lays out how the television industry is adapting to the digital era, explaining what's really happening in a tone that will appeal to laypeople and insiders alike. In the first section, Wolk takes us through how the industry works today, focusing on how the various players actually make money and who pays who for what. The next section deals with the changes that are taking place in the industry today–everything from time shifting to binge viewing to cord cutting–and how those changes are starting to create some seismic shifts. In the final section, Wolk reveals his predictions for the future and what the industry will look like in ten years time.
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The Future of OTT TV Advertising, 2014-2020
The Diffusion Group
See publicationThe delivery of OTT TV — that is, long-form, professional-produced video content delivered over the Internet — is making significant inroads, with more than half of adult broadband users now engaging a fee-based OTT TV service on their home television. Despite this trend, the networks, advertisers, and MVPDs involved cannot agree on a single system of measurement, thus preventing OTT TV viewing from being fully monetized.
Not surprisingly, OTT TV advertising is a bit of the hybrid…The delivery of OTT TV — that is, long-form, professional-produced video content delivered over the Internet — is making significant inroads, with more than half of adult broadband users now engaging a fee-based OTT TV service on their home television. Despite this trend, the networks, advertisers, and MVPDs involved cannot agree on a single system of measurement, thus preventing OTT TV viewing from being fully monetized.
Not surprisingly, OTT TV advertising is a bit of the hybrid. Though ads appear on the same shows with more or less the same advertisers as traditional legacy TV, when buying and selling advertising OTT TV programming is regarded as ‘digital video.’ This has left both networks and advertisers confused as to the true value of OTT TV programming and its relevance in the advertising landscape.
This report offers a detailed analysis of the OTT TV advertising ecosystem, identifying the forces that will determine its future. As well, the report offers extensive forecasts for both legacy and OTT TV ad revenue through 2020. It addresses questions of significance to all those concerned with properly monetizing OTT TV content, and makes surprising predictions regarding issues critical to its future, including:
What counts as ‘OTT TV’ and how will OTT TV viewing be measured and valued?
What changes are in store for TV advertising during the next five years?
What role will programmatic play in buying and selling OTT TV advertising?
How much ad revenue will come from OTT TV over the next five years? How will this compare to legacy TV advertising?
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Piksel Binge Viewing Survey
See publicationAnalysis of the results of the landmark study Piksel performed in August 2013 to assess viewer behavior around binge-watching and live viewing.
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7 Things You Need To Know About Second Screen Interaction
SlideShare
See publicationOriginally presented at Screen DIgest's Future of Digital Media event in London, this deck is the next salvo from KIT digital's Alan Wolk in his attempt to infuse common sense into the discussion around second screen
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10 Things You Should Know About The Future of Television
SlideShare
See publicationA pointed overview of the the television industry as it bumps up against, and ultimate combines with, the internet.
Projects
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KIT digital Social Program Guide
- Present
Electronic Program Guide with a social overlay, so you can see what your friends are up to and then act on it by actually changing the channel. Intended as a white label product for network operators.
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Honors & Awards
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Top 20 Thinkers In Social TV and Second Screen
Appmarket.tv
This prestigious list included Zeebox founder Anthony Rose, MIT professor Marie-José Monpetit, GetGlue founder Alex Iskold and Dijit founder Jeremy Toeman
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