Because you probably don’t have enough content in your life, I’m asking my fellow friends, entrepreneurs, and entertainers one really good question, and I’ll share with you the answer I get here. While I can’t make any promises, I’ll try to get the smartest, hippest, edgiest, and hopefully sexiest people I know to answer and we’ll see what happens. Without further adieu!:
ONE QUESTION
I was texting with Brad White last night. Brad is smart and hip (and sexy!), and he’s the founder of BiiG. I love smart entrepreneurs, and Brad is a smart entrepreneur.
Ben: What’s the biggest biz trend you are all over for 2019?
Brad: “In 2017 Netflix surpassed cable in total subscribers. I’ll write that again. In 2017, Netflix passed cable for ALL cable subscribers. That’s mind-blowing to an almost 40 year old who watched things called reruns with shows like Threes Company and Baywatch.
The trend is set – cord cutters and cord-nevers are voting with their dollars and cable continues to decline about 5% per year. Steady…until it’s not.
2019 will see cable subscription REVERSE hockey stick and plummet. Why? Because there are only two groups of people still paying for cable: sports fans and my mom (late adopters). The sports fans – they’ll jump ship as soon as NFL Sunday Ticket can be downloaded on a Roku or Fire and people are ok with Fox Sports over ESPN Sportscenter if they don’t have to pay $120 a month (Hint: they are, and that is why Disney is trying to compete with Netflix).
So what’s next? PAID TV. No, not pay TV. That’s cable. I’m building a platform called BiiG where you’re paid to watch TV. If you have to watch ads, your time has value.”
Note from Ben: I do think we’re in the early days of monetizing and revenue sharing based on participation in networks and platforms. TV seems like it should be a revenue sharing platform, so I’ll be tracking Brad and his startup closely in 2019.
