How India's ChuChu TV and other media platforms are killing Nickelodeon and Sesame Street

The Atlantic published a great piece this week about ChuChu TV, an Indian media company birthed from a dad who was making cartoons for his daughter. The short version of the story is that his company and many others have been dominating YouTube with content that toddlers prefer to watch over anything on Netflix or cable TV. The full story is here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/raised-by-youtube/570838/

The secret to their success: analytics. ChuChu's CEO says they use viewership data in near-real-time to determine whether a video will work or not, and then keep making more content based on the ingredients of that content. If kids are watching more than 60% of a clip, they'll keep putting money into content like it. It's like Netflix but in hyperspeed.

Key Takeaway

Content success stories are sounding a lot like product success stories. The use of analytics is determining the winners and losers in this new world.

Netflix is moving forward with Choose Your Own Adventure content

Starting with Black Mirror and a number of Video Game titled shows, Netflix will allow audiences to choose how a show should end. Didn't like how the daughter ran away with a truck driver in Black Mirror? Well now you can change that.

Key Takeaway

To me personally, TV is a medium that I like to keep as a lazy one. I want someone to give me their story - not be asked to help them define it. That's what I play video games for; but I recognize that not everyone is an elder millennial male that plays video games.

Maybe this new format will provide the same interactivity that many of us seek when playing games, but in a more familiar environment. Either way - Netflix is truly embracing the idea that we no longer live in a world of broadcast, but in one of two way communications.

Will it work? If we return to the takeaway from ChuChuTV, analytics has yet to steer Netflix in the wrong direction. As masters of product development, it's safe to say they know what they're doing.

Uniqlo replaces 90% of warehouse staff with robots

In Uniqlo's main warehouse in Tokyo, most humans have been replaced by robots, allowing for more usable space and faster deliver times. The Japanese retailer has spent nearly a billion (USD) on automation and are hoping the investment will deliver on clear ROI.

Key Takeaway

We talk a lot about how robots take people's jobs; I don't think this is what this story is about. To me, this is about making tough decisions about their company's future, and banking on developing their core technology as a means of optimizing their Supply Chain Management ecosystem.

Uniqlo isn't Amazon, they're not a producer of AI nor do they have investments (that I know of) in robotics, and yet, they're practicing what tech monoliths preach to find gains in their business. We should be looking at this move as a wake up call for any business that isn't doing the same.