Unmistakable was its influence on the heavyweight digital brands frontloaded into the opening week of these seemingly endless presentations to Madison Avenue.
Microsoft and Yahoo unveiled their forays into scripted long-form series; AOL went long-form, too, for the first time, but stayed unscripted. And Crackle and Hulu doubled down on scripted long-form as well.
But unlike Netflix, which subsists on subscription dollars, these companies are going to find out whether advertising can sustain long-form economics despite the still sizable gulf between TV and digital monetization rates.
These brands may also want to pause to question just what the “hit” status they are all chasing after really is. After all, Netflix doesn’t disclose measurement numbers, so no one knows how well these shows are really doing. But maybe the perception of having a hit is worth just as much as the real thing.
See the full story here: http://variety.com/2014/digital/opinion/newfronts-analysis-why-microsoft-yahoo-etc-invaded-tvs-turf-1201170915/