Living room TV is most valuable medium on planet

Americans are watching 10 more hours per week of TV since 1990. But they are spending that increased viewing time watching a relatively small percentage of the TV channels available to them - less than 14% on average.

Wouldn’t the internet TV and mobile app industry lead you to believe otherwise? Infinite programming, watch anywhere you are, anytime you want. It sounds cool. Online video and your living room TV are in separate worlds.

Here’s the truth: primetime content—the stuff that makes millions of dollars for the networks—will be consumed on your living room TV.

The same TV you spent hundreds of dollars on for the “experience”.

When people are being entertained they want to lean back. That’s the TV. When they’re finding something, they’re leaning in. That’s the internet. And that’s why it sucks trying to watch TV and use the internet at the same time. Fundamentally, they are different experiences.

Leaning back is where the money is at.

Facebook v. Google

What happens on Facebook's servers stays on Facebook's servers. It's Google's "blind spot", keeping them from truly 'organizing the world's information.' It's now a full blown battle involving employees, brand advertisers, and data. Who will win? I don't think anybody knows.

Read this: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-07/ff_facebookwall

Gameplan for Newspapers

The product for newspapers is its News brand, not method of delivery.

Once that is embraced by upper leadership, then the revenue doors will open. Some thoughts:

Problem 1:
90% of newspaper readership is online, yet print generates 90% of the revenues.

Solution:
1) Charge more for print product, lower production by ~40%, and invest the difference into the online product
2) Hire community bloggers. OWN local
3) Marry tech + ad sales groups, integrate AdReady
4) Form major strategic with KIRO or KOMO to provide video feeds on all news--result is the leading multimedia news network in the Seattle DMA.
5) Monetize RSS via per-call fee, no more non-monetized content. I love RSS, but until it can be monetized, it's killing the news industry.
6) Upgrade digital sales efforts and online delivery infrastructures.

It's highly likely the traditional (newspapers, local TV) local news industry converges into a single multimedia news network to continue owning the local news space for years to come.

Otherwise it's survival of the fittest and most traditional news co's are fatter than they are fit right now so it's a challenging reversal because of the 90/10 problem.

I believe in the future of newspapers. Their media brands will ultimately keep the industry alive, but not all will survive. Hopefully the P-I will.

Chris McCoy
www.yoursports.com

How it all started

As a freshmen, needed some money, so started teaching pitching lessons to a small group of 11 year olds. First lesson was in my fraternity's living room on a rainy Seattle day. That turned into a mini training guide which morphed into a 100 page e-book sold on eBay, which then morphed into A to Z Training on DVD. This is how it all started: student loan money, a passion for pitching, and a lot of extra time on my hands.

Living the dream

I am living a dream. Sometimes it seems to be the dream, but then the dream kicks my ass, so I settle down and see it as a dream. I think in 20 years it'll be The Dream, but for now, as I fight my way to success--at any level--it's a dream. But again, sometimes it is The Dream.

At the end of the day, I wouldn't change jobs for the world. This is a dream come true.

There I go again, calling it a dream.

Growing up, I did dream of doing something, something big. I guess, building the ESPN for amateur sports would qualify for that, so in that context, this is The Dream.

I'm at a point where success could swing this way or that. I'm not on the fence, that's for sure. Everything is being left on the field.

I'm living the American Dream. That's what it is.

In all seriousness, this is a dream come true, albeit an ass-kicking, humbling experience--I wouldn't change it for a world.

So here I go to pursue it.