How to fail at Cable TV, Summarized: Put on the air a channel full of shit no one wants to watch featuring people no one wants to see. (e.g. Viceland)
The failed launch of Vice's cable TV channel should be an object lesson in how not to do it. Compared to what it replace--H2, History's backup channel--viewership is shit and only those invested in its narrative agenda gainsay that fact. More people want to watch reruns of Ancient Aliens than shows about shitweasels and freaks puffing themselves up.
When you work on a merchant's basis for success, you work on the fundamental principle of satisfying an unmet demand in return for compensation of your choice. Most people who fail to achieve success in the merchant's world, and cannot resort to cronyism as an alternative, do so because they fail to do this one fundamental task.
It turns out that there is not a large demand for watching freaks, frauds, degenerates, and similar wastes of life puff themselves up under the guise of "entertainment". As noted above, there is more demand for shows about ancient aliens and the end of the world than there is about gays on holiday, obese shit rappers, weed smokers, and so on. It's the failure of G4 all over again, only accelerated by an order of magnitude.
I will not mourn when Vice goes off the air for good. I will celebrate, and wish the same for all others of similar shit quality.
H2 and History are successful because they are meeting an unmet demand. Vice is not, so it fails. For those who seek to walk the Merchant's Path to success, learn from this failure: always pay attention to what demands are unmet, assess to see if they are viable demands, and if so then meet them better than anyone else.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Anonymous comments are banned. Pick a name, and "Unknown" (et. al.) doesn't count.