What I Learned from MasterClass
Last fall, I filmed a course for MasterClass. It’s mainly based on my book Slow Productivity, but there’s some Deep Work in there too. It’s called: “Rebuild Your Focus & Reclaim Your Time.”
The course launched last week, so you should definitely check it out. It gets to the core of a lot of the topics we tackle in this newsletter about the intersection of technology and productivity, and it’s an incredibly polished final product.
It’s actually this latter point that I want to talk a little bit more about today, as it sparks an interesting question about the future of online media more generally…
In my career as a writer, I’ve been on TV before as a guest on morning shows and cable news programs, but this was as close as I’ll ever come to starring in a dramatic series or independent film.
For me, this experience implied an important reality about the current state of visual media: there remains a non-trivial quality gap between independent video (e.g., as produced for YouTube) and legacy video (e.g., as produced for streaming platforms or linear television).
This gap matters.
Today, Dropout boasts over a million subscribers.
I refer to this type of niche subscription service, defined by a combination of legacy-quality programming and a focused audience, as a micro-streamer.
Keep an eye on this market segment. As it becomes easier to produce high-end video, more independent creators will leave the mass-aggregation platforms like YouTube and offer up targeted competition to the major streaming players.
Who knows, maybe one day you’ll even have a Deep Life TV app next to Disney+ on your smart TV. Until then, however, you can get your fill of movie-quality Cal content