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Engaging viewers with broadcast TV is more challenging than ever. Audiences are cutting the cord, spending more time with YouTube, CTV and streaming platforms. How can broadcasters not only retain viewers, but create content that travels across platforms, building a different kind of loyalty — and monetizing viewership wherever and whenever it happens?
Beyond platform shifts, there’s another challenge: content economics.
Networks and studios increasingly partner with streamers like Amazon Prime Video, where global reach is far more lucrative than broadcast distribution across 210 U.S. DMAs. As a result, production studios are chasing streaming deals rather than prioritizing traditional broadcast syndication.
A warning sign: Two of the most iconic syndicated shows, Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, are now at the center of a legal dispute between Sony Pictures and CBS. If Sony prevails, these staples of nightly television could migrate to Amazon Prime, Netflix or other streamers.
This would mark a tectonic shift,disrupting primetime lead-ins, depressing linear ratings and signaling the continued erosion of the syndication model that once powered TV broadcasting.
Broadcasters Must Take Control Of Content
I’ve written previously about broadcasters seizing control of content creation to replace syndicated programming. Earlier this year, I suggested partnering with successful YouTube creators to bring their content to broadcast. I also proposed building broadcast network affiliate driven production groups. With the potential loss of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, the urgency is greater than ever: We must create programming for the future, leveraging all the tools that today’s technology provides.
At TVNewsCheck’s Programming Everywhere last month at the