Please, let’s not argue whether the age of traditional TV networks is over. It is, and you know it. Older viewers may be keeping it on life support, but if that fills you with optimism, we have a buggy whip factory to sell you.

A friend, a veteran producer at a major TV network, put it this way: “I’ll still be here in 10 years — but the networks, not so much.”

So what comes next? After years in the network TV trenches, we believe the answer is: studios. Neo-studios, actually — a new breed filling the void left by the inevitable disappearance of networks as we know them. Neo-studios will build tomorrow’s media empires.

In the modern TV era, networks have been more than distribution platforms. They‘re brands. Branding has helped forge relationships and create fans (“I want my MTV!”) and helped those fans discover new shows and characters (AMC: “Something more!”).

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Branding Across Platforms

But the new digital distribution mega-platforms — we’re looking at you, Netflix, YouTube and Hulu — strip branding away. They just plop content out there naked. And then they dangle algorithmically chosen video-bait — unbranded video-bait — to keep viewers viewing.

To these platforms, content is commodified and fungible. (Unless, of course, it’s their content, which they brand as their own and promote heavily.)

Neo-studios are the new networks. Untethered to any one platform, they distribute their IP over neo-networks — a web of media platforms customized to the nature of the property and needs of the audience. A neo-network could incorporate everything from streaming video to games to books and movies and toys.

Neo-studios understand that successful properties must be media-agnostic in this way, but must also live under the umbrella of a consumer-facing studio brand.

A few smart media companies are well positioned for the age of neo-studios.

The Walt Disney Co., for example, views its branded channels as just one of many platforms for its venerable properties. Its Marvel division, eschewing the Disney brand, is free to leverage its considerable brand equity to become a neo-studio of its own.

WWE has built an empire on the mythology of its story world — live events, television, video games, music, merchandise.

Even Hasbro (Transformers, Monopoly, My Little Pony) understands it’s not in the toy business anymore. Said president John Frascotti: “The business we are in today is really about building multidimensional franchises that are rooted in great stories and great characters.” In other words, Hasbro is a neo-studio whose key franchises are intellectual properties.

As we see it, successful neo-studios share seven traits:

1) Stand for someone and something. They will do their homework — and reflect deeply — to determine exactly who they’re for and what they will promise them.

2) View shows as media-agnostic IP franchises. Digital is more than “brand extensions” and “ancillary content” — it’s a platform equal to any of the others.

3) Spread across the media-verse. They will use all platforms and all formats to architect a media structure that is right for for each IP franchise.

4) Produce a lot of meta-content. Content about content not only promotes properties. It satisfies fans’ hunger to experience properties they love in deeper ways.

5) “Marry” their fans. They’ll recognize that their consensual relationship with fans is an intimate partnership. They’ll listen, respond and give them a sense of ownership.

6) Turn fans into superfans. Using audience management strategies, they’ll drive current fans to new properties, deeper engagement and a role as a kind of marketing platform.

7) Build a realistic business model. Before their subscription VOD and direct-to-consumer dreams can come true, neo-studios will have to become truly indispensable to fans.

The networks that survive today’s upheaval will be those that evolve into neo-studios. Successful media startups will be born that way. And in this new environment, the best content and most well-crafted brands will rise to the top. It’s survival of the finest.

Scott Webb, managing director of brand and content-development company Static-Free Media, was executive vice president and creative director of Nickelodeon during its formative years. Dave Goldenberg, chief brand strategist of Static-Free Media, was part of the Nickelodeon brand team.

After attending last week's network television upfronts, it is hard not to recognize how advanced the business really is and how much of what we have been talking about for so long has become reality. Television is no longer just about ratings, units and GRPs, but rather about the ability to effectively utilize data and technology to target and measure more specific, granular audiences within best-in-class content and an array of alternative distribution formats.

The concept of buying audiences and hyper-targeting is not new. It has been a standard practice in digital marketing for some time and has more than proven its value to the market. However, we are now lifting these trends and tactics and applying them to television at full scale, thereby demonstrating the value with metrics far beyond impression delivery.

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Five years ago, targeting in television consisted of standard demography, and reaching those identified demos was heavily based on using the content as the surrogate for the audience.

Today, every major TV network has incorporated the necessary data sets into their portfolio that allows advertisers to understand how the content they are aligning their brands with delivers against highly customized, handpicked segments.

In many cases, the transaction is based on the delivery of the commercial to those specified audience segments. These are valuable tools but, more importantly, it gives advertisers choice and options, which is critical in this ever-changing, highly connected and fragmented marketplace.

While data may be the backbone of this television evolution, it is not the only contributing factor. Technology now has a seat at the table. Measurement is no longer limited to our standard sources and delivered in confined buckets. Advertisers have true crossplatform reach and frequency understanding available to them, which allows for the application of technology towards near and soon-to-be-real-time optimization.

When thinking about television, it’s easy to keep the conversation focused on national networks and mass reach; however, it is important to recognize the role multichannel video programming distributors play in the transformation of TV.

Looking back again those five years, the notion of “addressable” targeting and campaign-level attribution were somewhere between a dream and a test. Today, more than 50% of U.S. TV households can receive a highly segmented message to the individual set-top box, with the results tied back to a sale.

Yes, we finally can identify households based on the type of car they drive, what brand of soup they purchase, what they watch on TV and even those who suffer from seasonal allergies. The identification and messaging to these homes is made possible through technology, data management and innovative business planning by many of our country’s largest pay TV providers. `

This mechanism of targeting an attribution is right out of the digital playbook, but without the concerns surrounding fraud and viewability.

The most exciting part of the television business today is that nothing is off the table.

Applications that we thought would never surface are being built as we speak, and the vision of a data-driven, majority addressable and semi-automated marketplace is within our grasp.

When I speak to advertisers and they tell me they have moved beyond the “test and learn” stage, and are truly vested in a data and technology market, it only increases my confidence in the future of our business.

Nick Troiano leads a family of Cross MediaWorks companies focused on addressing the current and future needs of television advertisers. Those companies include Cadent, a leading provider of media, advertising technology and data solutions for both advertisers and pay TV providers; TCA (The Cross Agency), a data-driven performance-based marketing agency; and one2one Media, a newly formed company focused on expanding and streamlining the addressable video marketplace.

Image by John Lund/Getty Images.

542.4 million
The number of social "actions" -- likes, shares, retweets, comments, reblogs and dislikes -- driven by TV networks and shows across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and YouTube in October. Engagement for TV networks increased 7% month-to-month from September, boosted by a 35% uptick on Instagram and a 15% rise on Twitter.

92.4 million
The number of actions around ESPN, social media's most engaging TV network in October. Other cable networks in the Top 10 were Fox News, No. 5, with 29.6 million actions; MTV, No. 6, with 27.4 million; AMC, No. 8, with 25 million (driven by The Walking Dead, which premiered Oct. 8, pushing the network into the Top 10 for the first time); and E!, No. 9, with 23.6 million.

256%
Esquire Network's month-to-month social engagement gain in the TV Network category from September to October, driven by a viral video post for the show Car Matchmaker.

51.9 million
The number of actions generated by ESPN's Sports Center, TV's most socially engaging show in October. Rounding out the Top 5 were AMC's The Walking Dead (22.4 million actions), ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos (7.6 million), NBC's Today (7.1 million) and ABC's Good Morning America (5.7 million).

SOURCE: Social Scorecard for October, Shareablee, a social media benchmarking and audience analysis firm (Nov. 17, 2015)