The heartbreaking tale of network deprivation hasn’t had much sympathy. It is, however, an indication of how hopelessly out of touch mainstream media really is. Why the hell would anyone mindlessly assign hours of viewing to an event they can catch up on any time they want? NBC apparently managed 18.2 million viewers out of 300+ million in the US, when the US was winning everything in sight. Obviously, it was the viewers’ fault.
Don’t you guys know how much greed goes into events like this? Don’t you feel sorry for all those pathetic billionaires, struggling on bravely despite their wealth? Don’t you know how many insane gerbils make money out of tweaking the advertising? Don’t you feel responsible for that huge, under-acknowledged global septic tank of middlemen? Think of all they’ve done for you.
No, it’s the millennial varmints who are responsible. Welcome back to 1950. If you think you’ve missed anything, you haven’t. The severe case of middle-class myopia formerly known as the television industry still thinks it rules the world. Like the old newspapers before them, the industry believes itself to be absolutely indispensable.
As a matter of fact, there seems to be a virtual media hate campaign going on about millennials on a daily basis. Millennials do this, they don’t do that, they don’t like this, they don’t like that, et cetera. They’re workaholics, but they’re lazy. They’re narcissistic, but they’re insecure. They don’t even buy homes, and nobody knows why. If they gave out Pulitzer Prizes for inconsistency in reportage on a particular subject, this would be it.
Gizmodo, readers will be relieved to know, has somehow still retained its sense of humour, and suggests that the Olympics should pander to millennials. That’s hilarious, given the fact that millennials are arguably the most ignored younger generation in history in terms of their own inputs.
Imagine the television industry, which still thinks that people live the way they did 60 years ago, trying to get in touch with millennials. Can’t you just see the patronising, out of touch geriatrics talking about Pokémon Go as though they had a clue, particularly when Pokémon Go is now already well and truly out of fashion.
Next, they’ll discover virtual reality, augmented reality, and maybe even in a few thousand years, actual reality. It’s a virtual cornucopia of possibilities, isn’t it? Then, one day, the wheel will be invented.
The fact is that mainstream media, with all its ancient assets on the line, has been incredibly slow to adapt. Those assets are now in the process of becoming absolutely worthless, and you can actually hear all those billions decaying with every creaking second.
Denial is no longer cheaper than adaptation. It’s an actual liability. The sooner the collection of Smithsonian rejects trying to pass itself off as global media admits that, the better.
Meanwhile, the question of exactly how this industry is supposed to adapt has been left to the dubious intellects of the PR, marketing, and business sectors. Equally unable to understand the most basic facts of human life, these are the geniuses supposed to reinvent old media as new media. Don’t hold your breath.
