The Medium is the Entertainment Value

When Marshall McLuhan wrote “The Medium is the Message” in Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, the year was 1964, there was no internet, no cell phones, and likely no criticism of using the word ‘man’ and not ‘human.’ Needless to say, it was a different time. TV adoption had recently peaked in the United States with over 90% of Americans owning this device. Media was adapting, entertainers were adapting, and day time TV including “Oh! Susanna” and “The Donna Reed Show” was on the rise.

Simplified, McLuhan’s message revolves around how the medium in which content is consumed has a deep effect on the viewers' conception of the content. Though I am sure this was true during the rapid adoption of TV’s, I think McLuhan’s message rings truer than ever today.

Let’s take the example of Netflix. Myself and many of my peers recently watched the viral show ‘You.’ Generally, the consensus is that the show was thrilling, engaging, and worthy of an “Are you still watching?” prompt. The show achieved 40m views in its first month on the platform. What many do not know is that ‘You’ first aired on Lifetime in September 2018 amassing a dismal 640k weekly views in month one, subsequently being canceled. There were certainly no viral Guinevere Beck memes during this period either. It should be noted that all things are not destined to fail on Lifetime. The channel recently released the documentary ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ which quickly went viral, sparking a conversation on the Rapper, contributing to a larger, dialogue on sexual harassment and assault.

The show did not change, but the ratings and the viewership did, achieving 15X growth in a short period of time. So back to McLuhan, it seems the medium has had a drastic effect on the entertainment value. To figure out why this is the case, let’s look at what made people watch the show. Of course, there are the early adopters who saw the preview and were hooked, but generally, most wait for greater social acceptance before they will commit to consumption. The thing is, once people started watching they were often so disturbed (and entertained) that they wanted to tell their friends about it, and more so, they wanted their friends to experience that same, uncomfortable feeling that they had. So, they messaged their friends in a group chat, or snapped a really creepy scene and said: “You guys gotta watch this…” Trust is high in these peer groups so naturally, their friends clicked on the show that night and were hooked.

This sharing was done with ease on Netflix, but not on Showtime. If the early viewers had a similar reaction, they could share it with their friends in the same way, but many of them would not have subscribed to Showtime, so their next best effort would be to look for a way to stream it online (without paying) - not always easy. Naturally, this user experience means less views, less interest, less discussion, and as a result, less entertainment value.

Why is this important? Well - the medium is the message. Entrepreneurs, brands, media companies need to take a hard look at the content they are producing but more importantly, where they are sharing it and whether those platforms promote sharing, conversation, community (and virality). The ‘You’ example shows that the same content can be hugely successful on one platform but fail on another. So perhaps those struggling with building an audience or a brand should spend less time worrying about the quality of their content and more time experimenting with new platforms. I suspect the average age of the ‘You’ audience on Showtime was significantly older than that of the audience on Netflix. Naturally, different platforms have different audiences, so by experimenting on new mediums, you expose yourself to different people, validating (or invalidating) your hypothesis on your target demographic.

Your friend with that ‘disruptive, plant-based, gluten-free, paleo, DTC, donut business may realize that the eclectic subreddit ‘People Who Photoshop Arms Onto Birds’ love her product more than anyone else. By interacting with this community, your friend can figure out who these people are, what they’re all about, and where she can reach folks similar to them.

So try new platforms, engage new audiences, and create shareable material, you never know when and where it may take off!