If Content Is King, Distribution Is King Kong

The fast-moving, often colliding worlds of media and technology are shifting so quickly these days, you’re forgiven if you lose track of which companies are which. Is Netflix a media or a technology brand? How about Apple? Or Spotify? At times, they’re all both, even if they might have differing ways of devising their business models.

And your radio station? Forever, you’ve been a media outlet. Until you’re not. Because not everyone is in a position to receive your content via your conventional tower and transmitter distribution model. Today, some are fine listening to your morning show on a car radio. But others would rather stream it on their phones. Or smart speaker. Or maybe they’d rather not listen in real-time so they opt for the podcast. And if you offered the show on YouTube, perhaps they’d rather watch it.

In the early days, when it was just radio, TV, and print, distribution didn’t really much matter. Especially for the so-called electronic media – radio and TV – consumers either went to the appliance store to purchase a radio or television set or they missed out. When FM radio became all the rage, they either bought FM converters for their cars or they couldn’t listen to some of the hot new stations that launched in the late ’60s/early ’70s.

But all that’s changed is not only content but also the way we get it has split into many fragments, giving consumers much choice over what they watch, what they listen to, what they do it on, and when they decide to do it.

That was a major lesson in what we learned and applied to our Techsurveys two decades ago. And that led us to our big statement about how the role of content had been warped by the gadgets and platforms that could deliver it. Hence, the new phrase:

“Content is king…but distribution is queen.”

That is, it still very much mattered what you produced as a program director, news editor, showrunner, podcast producer, or publisher. But it was now essential to see it all through the lens of distribution – how, where, and when audiences consumed it.

That model has held up well, as we keep drawing our Media Usage and Brand Pyramids in every Techsurvey we’re conducted since 2004. It has always been key for us to see how audiences use our content as consumption has moved from “regular radios” to digital distribution. Consuming your brand’s content over the air has diminished greatly from the 85% level it enjoyed back in 2013 to just under 60% these days. Conversely, digital usage of stations like yours has more than doubled during this same time period.

This is why it’s been essential for radio brands to “meet your listeners where they are” rather than assuming they’ll always turn on that good old radio – at home, at work, and in the car. The preferred platform broadcasters always enjoyed for distribution of their content – a radio – has been diminishing over the past 20 years, losing its ubiquity, as consumers have discovered other outlets.

But now, we’re in the midst of another sea change in the dual worlds of content and how, where, and when we utilize it. Welcome to distribution 3.0.

And say hello again to one of my go-tos, Evan Shapiro. Readers of this blog know I’ve tuned into his POV over the last few years, especially when he became the official cartographer – that is map maker – for the changing media and tech world we’re experiencing.

Since 2020, Shapiro has been building these maps by hand on PowerPoint, a laborious but necessary process that provides a sort of order and scale to the larger solar system where we are all residents. Here’s the latest:

A big change over just these few years has been the presence and growth of what Shapiro calls the “Trillion Dollar Death Stars” – Apple, Microsoft, Meta (Facebook, Instagram, etc.), Alphabet (Google), Amazon, and now Nvidia.

These massive enterprises aren’t just worth trillions, they have redefined the landscape. In a recent commentary in MediaPost, Shapiro reminds us a significant source of revenue for Meta, Apple, Amazon, and Alphabet is advertising. Nvidia is not far behind, and other players like Walmart are also competing in this space, particularly since their purchase of Visio earlier this year. (I wrote about this in a post this past March, “It’s the DATA, stupid!”)

Shapiro is adamant that content is no longer king. And to prove it, he reminds us the biggest companies on his map aren’t media companies, they’re tech juggernauts. And his new mantra, “Distribution is King Kong.”

Evan Shapiro, egta’s CEO Summit via MediaPost

After all, in our world today, anybody and everybody can make content. And thanks to AI, the ranks of content creators are only going to grow exponentially.

So according to Evan Shapiro, the question we ought to be asking ourselves is:

“What is your technology and data strategy?”

Still, the shifting Venn diagram of content and distribution continue to tell important stories for many of the brands on Shapiro’s map.

NFL fans no doubt read the recent story where Netflix bought the rights to carry the league’s valuable Christmas Day mega-matchups. For consumers, of course, this move follows similar purchases by Apple, Amazon, and other “Trillion Dollar Death Stars” to corner the market on distribution. And it tells fans that content subscriptions are going to determine access to sports broadcasts, a major shift in the architecture for decades and decades now.

But in an interesting twist of media fortunes, Netflix finds itself in a weirdly uncomfortable position. Yes, it now controls distribution rights to these coveted December 25th games, but now in a strange turn of events, it has no one to produce them.

Obviously, not everyone can put together a state of the art NFL broadcast, and CNBC reports Netflix has reached out to the usual suspects – Disney’s ESPN, Comcast’s NBCUniversal, and Paramount Global’s CBS Sports. No takers.

And according to the story, broadcast production units may not be in any hurry to help Netflix out for broadcasts slated for air just about six months from now. That’s because of rumors Netflix is vying to become a long-term media player for the NFL, replacing one of the traditional networks.

For radio broadcasters, Shapiro’s “Media Solar System” is daunting, of course. iHeart barely makes a microscopic appearance, and given the flagging fortunes of so many companies, radio as we knew it is likely to find itself careening toward a black hole before too long.

But that doesn’t mean the basics of what Shapiro espouses shouldn’t be ignored. How are radio companies evolving their distribution models? Where do mobile apps fits into this scheme, given their ubiquity in pockets and purses all over the planet? And what about a first-party data strategy, utilizing and expanding email databasing activities and embracing other sources – Xperi comes to mind – that are generating data directly from the cars and trucks consumers are driving.

Beyond Techsurvey, how can audience research resources be used to answer more important questions to broadcasters than identifying “the station that plays too many bad songs along with the good ones?”

The world – make that the solar system – of technology is unavoidable, as many broadcasters hoped it would somehow “go away.” Instead, it has redefined the ways where consumers entertain and inform themselves.