I still want Linear Media!!! Real Premium Content

Image by blue_j via Flickr

So everything about what I do and what I’m interested in professionally is based around breaking the Linear Media cycle. Social media, twitter, online advertising, ad optimization is all predicated upon the fact that on the internet, rarely do you have an opportunity to tell a user a story with media in a linear fashion.

By a linear fashion, I mean a story having a start a middle and an end or a stream of consciousness where the message is given to you in bits and pieces on a set path. For example on the radio a DJ plays songs in order and makes you wait to hear who the artists are or you’re watching a movie and to understand the movie you need to watch it all the way through. This is a linear media experience. You can’t pull out bits and pieces and consume them because…..either you physically can’t (like you can’t fast fwd the radio) or it won’t make sense like the movie.

By a non-linear media experience I mean most on the internet. For example, you can download songs and organize them and mash them together however you want (aka Girl Talk) or on a website you can start by clicking any link you want or organizing news stories in an iGoogle type page so nothing is in a specific order.

Non-linear media experiences take work. I have to contribute to the social media machine and I have to organize the news and make my own playlists. There are no editors, there are no content curators, I am taking on that work for myself.

Well, guess what? I’m lazy. I like being told a story. I like a DJ that I know and trust and like their personality and taste in music to create my playlist. When I go to LaLa, I love that listening to music is free, but the first place I go are the mixes every time because I want someone else to put together my playlist.

I’m also sick of On Demand. I don’t want to pick through hundreds of reality TV shows. I want TGIF. I want the Thursday night lineup with Sienfeld and actual real stories being told.

I think the only real haven for this right now is HBO. They still create incredible Premium Content that I will pay for. They are great shows with great stories with real talent in them.

So when people talk about premium content these days and try top pass of NY Times new stories that are syndicated and are just updates and details on what people are saying for free on twitter, I don’t buy it.

Real Premium content is Linear Media. Stories being told with talent and a beginning, middle and end. A place where your mind wanders, where you get passionate, where you think about things and that plays on your emotions. In my opinion these are the last true sources of premium content. Now the challenge will be for the iPad, iPhone, Internet, and other devices to enhance them, not destroy them.

HBO

Showtime

Saveur Magazine

Netflix

Movie Theaters

Harry Potter

Live Music

Howard Stern

Here’s a video of an old Esquire Magazine executive talking about the iPad and the premium experience of a good magazine.