Hi everyone! I’m Jason and welcome to my YouTube channel, Company Insight. In this
video, I’m going to talk about the Rise and Fall of the Weather Channel And What They
Should Do to Stay Relevant Today.
Successful cultural trends, inherently linked to a time-period, hold high value in a consumer-based
economy. In today's 2021 society, we can see resurgences of cultural relics being unearthed
and sold to the tune of great profits. To name a few industries currently fawning over
late 1990s aesthetics, we can see the National Basketball Association (NBA) trending towards
a lively, bordering on neon color schemes with their League Wide “Modern Classics”
line of jerseys for the 2021 season. If you are interested in these 90s vibes take a look
at what the league did to tap into generational nostalgia! It's so cool! (https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/30300294/tracking-2020-21-nba-city-jerseys-other-uniform-changes
)
Personally, growing up in the 90’s in the United States, I can recall a distinct atmospheric
element that has all but faded from the present-day view. This is The Weather Channel being constantly
on in the background at a dentist’s office, my mom’s kitchen, or around the RadioShack
at the shopping mall. These were positive memories of soothing background noise and
pertinent information revolving around the dynamic, everchanging weather. Today we’ll
talk about the Rise and Fall of this omnipresent Company and how I think the Weather Channel
can stay relevant to Millennial and Gen-Z young adults today. But before we begin, if
you guys enjoy videos like this, please click the LIKE button, subscribe button and that
notification bell to know when new Company Insight videos come out each week. Thanks
for doing that and now let us continue on with the Rise and Fall of the Weather Channel.
History of the Weather Channel I’ll keep this section brief and just focus
on the key points so you get the big picture. The Weather Channel has quite a long-storied
history having started since 1980 by Landmark Media Enterprises. Veteran broadcaster, John
Colman, devised the idea for The Weather Channel to be the first network to provide “localized
weather” to its viewers with new technology in the form of WeatherSTAR computers.
Just so you know, back then, the Weather Channel was dramatically different from what you know
today – it was simply a barebones channel, providing weather statistics information and
absolutely no entertainment value. That shifted in 1986 as the Company shifted to an Anchor
Based news network and rebranded as The New Weather Channel.
The 1990’s and early 2000’s were considered the peak period for the Weather Channel. In
1993, approximately 90% of cable TV subscribing American households had access to The Weather
Channel thus providing the distribution channel for the TV show to a wide range of people
all across the United States. Technology improved with various new proprietary equipment for
more accurate weather forecasting and the channel also launched narrative programing,
including the popular “Storm Stories” which showed thrilling first-person accounts
of deadly weather and weather-related disasters.
The First Sale of the Weather Channel In 2008, Landmark put the channel up for sale,
and it was sold for $3.5 billion to NBC Universal, Bain and Blackstone Group. Although no public
information is released as the Company is private, consultants SNL Kagan estimated that
the channel had made a profit of $110 million in 2007 and that the channel itself was worth
only about $1.5 billion. The hidden gems of the deal were actually weather.com and weather.co.uk.
Back then, web tracking firm Comscore rated Weather.com as the 16th most popular website
in the United States, earning more than $100 million revenue annually! As proper context
at the time, FaceBook was generating income of $150 million that year and was valued at
$15 billion. My, times have changed right? Today, Facebook is worth more than $700 billion.
So the deal back in 2008 actually valued the Weather Channel more as a high growth tech
Company. This era was probably the peak of the Weather Channel.
NBC had it’s own weather channel at that time as well, so as part of the integration,
many of the Weather Channel’s on-camera meteorologists were laid off and the strategy
of the Channel shifted from long-form programming to just live forecast programming. During
this time, many loyal viewers complained about these changes. Overtime, trends were changing
away from checking weather on TV and 2014 started the network decline with DirecTV dropping
The Weather Channel followed by Verizon Fios in 2015.
How the Weather Channel Lost $1 Billion
Official revenue and statistics are not publicly provided, but these figures can give a glimpse
how bad things had become. In 2015, IBM bought most of the Weather Company's assets, including
weather.com, Weather Underground, the mobile apps and the data platform for $2 billion.
There was synergy as IBM wanted to use its Watson technology for weather predictions.
A few years later, in 2018, Byron Allen, the head of Entertainment studios, purchased the
Weather channel’s television assets for $300 million. Although the numbers are estimates,
it seems over $1 billion of value was destroyed in the past 10 years compared to the $3.5
billion price tag paid for the company in 2008, most likely from the weather channel
programming side.
Worse Weather = More Audience for the Weather Channel
Taking a step back, chances are, you’re most likely to tune into the Weather channel
on your TV or go to weather.com if there’s bad weather or a natural disaster. When I
look back at the historical audience for the Weather Channel in the past 4 years, you see
big spikes in weekly audience in the month of September each year. This is because of
the seasonal hurricane season in the North Atlantic. September 2017 was because of Category
5 Hurricane Irma, 2018 was because of Hurricane Florence and 2019 from Hurricane Dorian, another
category 5.
There will always be the potential for massive viewers during a natural disaster. This is
where Weather Channel holds a corner of the nation-wide market. As mentioned by Forbes,
“The Weather Channel attracted 70 million viewers in 2017, a year where several hurricanes
and wildfires captivated U.S. viewers. Scientists predict several cities could see temperature
increases over three degrees Fahrenheit by 2020. A rise in climate like this will have
an important impact on sea levels, hurricane severity and other natural disasters, which
is sure to drive viewership. When it rains, it pours success for The Weather Channel!”
However, when we look at the yearly average weekly audience, the trend is obviously down.
Things are getting worse for the Weather channel it is definitely losing it’s audience. The
real question moving forward is, how can the Weather Channel find their way back into the
daily routines of Americans, in a way that generates ad-revenue.
My Thoughts - The 2.5 Second Hook for the Weather Channel
You might not realize it, people have instant access to the Weather Channel information
on their phones! They use their service and support their infrastructure, with the standard
application on all Apple iphones. Aside from its daily practicality for iphone users, and
android users who choose to download the free Weather Channel App, this corporate body holds
a two-pronged-Golden-Key. People with a daily routine who take a quick, 2.5 second, glance
at their smartphone weather app to prepare for their day, are wired into The Weather
Channel already. Now, this lies the first aspect of that Golden Key: Attention. With
a delicate pivot towards the modern attention economy, I believe the Weather Channel can
find a resurgence back into cultural relevance.
Supply and Demand: The New and Old Era of Weather
Attention is earned, whether through shallow “click-bait” tactics or through value-based
merit. The Weather Channel deserves the attention it may get, as it provides a concrete, practical
service. However, demand is down for longform weather-based programming. The Discovery-Channelesque
programming of the classic Weather Channel, served well in the heyday of cable and satellite
television. As we dive deeper into the streaming age of entertainment today, The Weather Channel
currently finds itself relevant, but for no more than 2.5 seconds of attention each day.
So where is the opportunity? The streaming era has a bountiful supply of soothing, ambient
background music. But the standouts in this field do not command the dual benefit of information
and ambiance. The initial attention grabber of “what's today’s weather?” is a beautiful
hook to draw in the viewer.
As an American citizen, I never noticed where my weather was coming from. I simply didn't
think of it. I would hear terms like “accuweather forecast” and “weather on the 1s” and
just process that as… “time for the weather”. Again, on an attention basis, the Weather
channel is doing great. But to do better, they need to tap into a basic human desire,
to stay safe no matter the elemental conditions. For me, I rarely check my weather iphone app
more than once during the day. If the weather channel can get back into people's routines,
rather than a 2.5 second daily check, they can win, with serious advertisement potential.
The Opportunity Arises for Innovation
In my perspective, the initial allure of the weather channel was its zen ambiance and simple
practicality for its era. Now, it has evolved with the market, becoming the dominant weather
source locked into the Apple iOS, but no longer has the need for a television station, outside
of those natural disaster times. A low budget money maker can be established with skeleton
crew, large regional youtube channels, to stream 8 hours a day with hosts, and general
broadcasting materials with a focus on generating a renovated, late 90s/early 2000s aesthetic,
from music, color schemes all the way down to the classic digital type faces indicative
of that reviving cultural era.
You may ask yourself… Why late 90s early 2000s? I have been working on a cultural theory
for as many years as I can remember. Noting what trends are popular today, and their implications
on the taste of their contemporary demographic. The theory is based around the simple concept
that individuals gravitate towards comforts and styles impressed upon them in early youth.
If you search for weather channel articles on google, they will all be 20 somethings
or 30 somethings reflecting on their parents house and how their childhood was colored
by the, “Local on the 8’s, with its seasonally changing elevator music.”
The Broadcast-Zen-Ambiance Market
The ultimate in simple, money-making solutions comes from cracking the passive viewing streaming
market. The Zen Ambiance pervades youtube, with channels focused on ASMR or “chill
study or hangout music”. These may be popular channels and successful streamers, but they
are fulfilling one need, which is the relaxation of sound. The Weather Channel holds a sort
of genetic memory of Broadcast Zen Ambiance. Check this WeatherScan from 2003 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krRJCsPRxyE).
For me, I know that nostalgia plays a big role in my likes and dislikes, especially
with regard to comfort. If I want to feel swaddled in my work, I feel that fireplace-warmth
as I tune into one of the countless weather scan youtube archives.
And that brings us to today. The Weather Channel has a long-storied history but is no longer
relevant in today’s society. The potential for reinventing this commodity is possible
with the weather channel’s current infrastructure, and a skeleton crew updating information to
their 24/7 youtube stream. By doing this, the Weather Channel would be able to reinvent
an avenue to viewers looking to relax, with nostalgia, AND pertinent information they
might not otherwise explore. All markets evolve, and the weather market can play into the wide-open
field of ambient music. The potential is there for The Weather Channel to become hip, pick
up some ad-revenue and open up opportunities for future creative explorations.
So with that said, thank you so much for watching my video. There was a significant amount of
research and production that went into making this video possible, so if you wouldn’t
mind giving the video a LIKE and leaving a comment in YouTube section below, it would
really help out a lot. Be sure to check out some of my other videos, like the Rise and
Fall of New York and the Rise and Fall of Honda. Thank you again for watching and stay
tuned for another episode of Company Insight next week.