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Does TV Need To Better Cater To Generation TikTok?

Mike Shields

Everyone loves streaming right? It's the dominant way we consume media, and it's only getting bigger—correct?

Maybe not for Gen Z.

Business Insider got its hands on a report from Deloitte–and the headline should scare TV people—Streamers like Netflix and Disney+ have a Gen-Z problem

As you might have guessed, today's damn kids, while they like Netflix, really frigging love TikTok, Reels, Shorts, etc. I've asked this question before in my newsletter, but should the big media and streaming companies actually do something about this—e.g. producing some kind of short form TV, TikTokifying their distribution or user experience—or just accept the social video guys are playing a different game?

The question is whether Gen Z over time 'graduates' to longer form, lean back viewing, or is just inherently different. ESPN is betting on the former, as it looks to lock up college football for the next decade. Meanwhile, Netflix will be back this summer with an NFL documentary, this time focused on wide receivers instead of quarterbacks. Here's wondering if more Gen Zers would rather watch behind the scenes interviews and highlights of NFL players than actual NFL games.

To that end, NBCU announced a smart experiment that may satisfy that Gen Z attention span—this summer, the media giant will stream Gold Zone on Peacock—a live show that promises to jump from event to event a la the NFL Red Zone channel.

In other news, both Disney and NBCU are touting their programmatic buying options, as the upfront approaches. We'll see how the market responds.

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