TVREV

We spend so much time consuming information about the changing business models in TV, that it’s easy to lose touch with the best part about the medium: At its core, television gives us a way to experience culture together, in real-time. When hundreds of millions of people tune in to watch the same people chase the same ball, something else happens— there is an experience that crosses borders and gives us the chance to feel something together.

We don’t generally post videos created by corporate marketing teams, but iSpot’s Stu Schwartzapfel visit Roku City to chat with Roku’s Miles Fisher deserves to live in the annals of the interwebs as an instant classsic. Sure they explore the value and evolving use cases of measurement in a system for buying optimization, and bringing that third party verification and outcome feed into a buying platform is innovative enough to make for an interesting video.

So it was just two weeks ago that we were looking at what people were watching on YouTube when they watched it on TV and noting that Netflix, which few would argue is not TV, was already rolling out short-form vertical video in the form of previews and that it was likely also preparing to introduce more vertical short-form content on their mobile app. Turns out we were half-right. They will indeed be launching short-form video from the likes of Architectural Digest, Buzzfeed and Vanity Fair.

The chart above, using Tubular data, shows the shift over time. During Q3 and into Q4 of last year, videos running 2-to-5 minutes long were accounting for less than 15.5% of U.S. media companies’ YouTube views. Yet, they also made up over a quarter of uploads. That relationship was inefficient. What’s followed has been less so as the line for upload percentage around 2-to-5 minute videos has steadily declined (to 23.43% in June 2026).

For much of the past two decades, America's local television stations have taken comfort in one remarkably durable competitive advantage: trust. As newspapers struggled with shrinking circulation, disappearing advertising and depleted newsrooms, public confidence in the local press steadily eroded. Local radio, too, became a shadow of its former self as consolidation, automation and syndicated programming gradually replaced locally produced news and personalities.

So often I go to industry events and take a few notes, but all the conversations blend into one, and by the time I get home, I’m generally inspired and exhausted and the takeaways aren’t as sharp.

The old television advertising bargain was simple. The programme earned the audience. The brand paid to stand beside it. That bargain still works in plenty of places. But it no longer explains where the most interesting value in television is starting to form. In earlier columns, I argued that formats are becoming operating systems for IP, and that value compounds or leaks depending on how deliberately its movement is designed. The same logic now applies to who pays for the IP in the first place.

For decades, addressable advertising has been one of broadcast television's biggest unrealized opportunities. The technology existed. The demand existed. But the infrastructure—and industry alignment—never quite came together. That may finally be changing.

In this latest Innovator Spotlight from our new report The TV OS Wars: The Battle For The Living Room, Ventura TV OS’s Rob Caruso explains how a better ad experience translates into a better viewing expreience. You can download the report for free thanks to Ventura TV OS and our other sponsors, WunderKIND Ads and V. “We want people engaging with and enjoying what’s on their television sets” notes Rob Caruso, Senior Vice President, Consumer Products, Ventura TV OS at The Trade Desk.

Mark Marshall, Chairman of Global Advertising and Partnerships at NBCUniversal, joins Friend of TVREV, the ageless Justin Lebbon to discuss how the company plans to sustain its growth following a blockbuster year for sports. Marshall explains how NBCUniversal aims to win advertising spend from social platforms, why expanding demand through the "messy middle" is critical, and what that strategy entails.