MeatEater season 11 drops 10/26 but only on their site

Seems like they are doing one episode a week on Wednesday at 11 mountain time. Watched the episode on their site. Airplayed it from my iPad so I could watch on a TV screen. Ups the pain in the ass factor a bit and the video quality is less than Netflix. I get that they are trying to retain control and economics, but it is definitely a less pleasant user experience than just streaming it on Netflix.

it had some product placement but no ads

overall an interesting episode. alaska blacktail and some shrimp catching with the black rifle coffee CEO.

my $0.02 = Solid episode but the new format is a bit of a pain.
 
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I just pulled it up and watched a small portion of it. Seemed like it was nothing more than a Black Rifle Coffee add with Steve wearing a flight suit on the ride in on the float plane. WTF lol
 
The last episode I could stomach was the Meateater crew taking Luke Combs and his buddies hunting antelope on that private ranch in Wyoming. Prior I thoroughly enjoyed 80% of their content.

Funny how in the same week we went from threads about "Matt Rinella for president" to what's the best way to watch Steve. I definitely enjoy thd difference in lenses we on this site view through. Not a knock on either side.

I'm not giving up my FL base layers though!
 
ToolMann said:
The last episode I could stomach was the Meateater crew taking Luke Combs and his buddies hunting antelope on that private ranch in Wyoming. Prior I thoroughly enjoyed 80% of their content.

Funny how in the same week we went from threads about "Matt Rinella for president" to what's the best way to watch Steve. I definitely enjoy thd difference in lenses we on this site view through. Not a knock on either side.

I'm not giving up my FL base layers though!
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I’ve always enjoyed the early seasons of Meat Eater and what I thought they stood for/promoted. But when Steve hopped out of the float plane in some Gucci’d up BS flight suit I had to turn it off.
 
DakotaBPNW said:
I’ve always enjoyed the early seasons of Meat Eater and what I thought they stood for/promoted. But when Steve hopped out of the float plane in some Gucci’d up BS flight suit I had to turn it off.
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I didn’t notice that but I guess I wasn’t looking for ways to pick apart the show and Steve. I do wish I could just binge watch the season like I could on Netflix - back to one episode per week (for any show) kind of stinks. I didn’t love the episode but I’ve also found myself watching less and less hunting content overall. I’m sure I’ll watch the whole season but it damn sure won’t be “appointment TV” like some of the first seasons.
 
I think that's the fourth time that episode has aired - different people each time, but same story line...
 
Did anybody else notice the content carousel on the homepage of their site went from “season 11 episode 1 - out now! Steve and Evan chase Sitka Blacktails” then rotated to “Steve’s blacktail gearlist” which is a shorter video where he goes over some of the gear he used in the episode and below it there are links to purchase the items.

The ability to do this, to draw viewers to their website and then drive engagement to their web stores, is a very effective sales funnel and a compelling reason to ditch Netflix and self-host their own content. It is also a good reason to release episodes once a week vs an entire season or as part 1 / part 2. Viewers will be hungry for more content, but they can’t binge the next episode so they will watch the gear list video. And before you know it you’ve bought a new pair of Lacrosse Alphabury boots in First Lite Fusion.

I imagine the revenue for selling all the gear must be much higher than whatever Netflix was paying them. At least that’s the gamble. They bought up all those companies, investors want their returns.

Good bad or indifferent that’s just my interpretation of the situation from a business perspective.
 
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I notice a number of companies that are “self hosting“ content these days. I think money is part of it, but they also probably have some concerns about future censorship from these big media platforms. I didn’t think Netflix has any other hunting shows than Meateater. I wonder if part of their strategy is about building a business that isn’t reliant on a third party for distribution so that you can’t get cut off.

on the point about slinging gear On their site, I do agree at the gear segments are a great tool for them. I don’t begrudge them the right to sell stuff. They gotta pay the bills. In fact, I expected the show to have commercial breaks so I was actually surprised when it was commercial free and didn’t haven’t more than the usual product placements.
 
evergreenethos said:
Did anybody else notice the content carousel on the homepage of their site went from “season 11 episode 1 - out now! Steve and Evan chase Sitka Blacktails” then rotated to “Steve’s blacktail gearlist” which is a shorter video where he goes over some of the gear he used in the episode and below it there are links to purchase the items.

The ability to do this, to draw viewers to their website and then drive engagement to their web stores, is a very effective sales funnel and a compelling reason to ditch Netflix and self-host their own content. It is also a good reason to release episodes once a week vs an entire season or as part 1 / part 2. Viewers will be hungry for more content, but they can’t binge the next episode so they will watch the gear list video. And before you know it you’ve bought a new pair of Lacrosse Alphabury boots in First Lite Fusion.

I imagine the revenue for selling all the gear must be much higher than whatever Netflix was paying them. At least that’s the gamble. They bought up all those companies, investors want their returns.

Good bad or indifferent that’s just my interpretation of the situation from a business perspective.
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Anyone who works in web or e-commerce noticed these things immediately. What we’ve seen over the years is a hunting show morph into a straight-up e-commerce/sales endeavor - the viewer is the product now. Funneling viewers to watch on platforms to generate immediate/impulse buys. The black rifle coffee thing is of course part of this as they have collaborated to make a meateater/BRCc product (pack-out( coffee, that of course you can buy from the comfort of your barcolounger while you watch the show.

Someone said in the comments below the video that the quality of the stream was low. Not sure why they are doing it, but it does look like a lower quality stream.
 
Yoder said:
If I had to choose one person to change the mind of someone who hated hunting it would be Steve Rinella.
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This.

And whether you love him or hate him, or are indifferent, we (hunters) are going to need people like that. We are going to have to have people who can talk to anti-hunters without yelling and getting red-faced and resting on arguments of "I've always done it" or "its a right" (whether it is or not). Many here aren't capable of that. We certainly don't have many who can do that on a large scale.
 
ChrisAU said:
This.

And whether you love him or hate him, or are indifferent, we (hunters) are going to need people like that. We are going to have to have people who can talk to anti-hunters without yelling and getting red-faced and resting on arguments of "I've always done it" or "its a right" (whether it is or not). Many here aren't capable of that. We certainly don't have many who can do that on a large scale.
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Standby…. Has Steve increased or decreased his reach by splitting with Netflix?

With the show disappearing from Netflix and all the episodes now only available (that i am aware of) on his own site, he has intentionally focused the operation to sell products to the initiated or soon to be initiated.

And to be honest, I haven’t seen much recent work outside of the standard hunting world, but maybe I’ve missed it.
 
___DAN___ said:
I actually did a search on this forum after I wrote that. He's a rokslider and I'll be dammed he's been a member for 12 years. Blown away haha. I been telling all my buddies about him and his YT channel. He's more known than I thought. I found his YT watching some of my other hunting shows.
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Yeah he’s a good guy, been following his stuff since he joined rokslide.
 
Good stuff... makes me miss deer hunting in SE. That old growth still hunting is awesome.

Ad free (aside from product placement) and didn't have pay for it. No complaints here. For all that complain about the platform, I would bet they all eventually put it on youtube
 
ODB said:
Standby…. Has Steve increased or decreased his reach by splitting with Netflix?
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Reach may not be the most important metric now. Still important, just not their north star metric. I think the Netflix deal was one phase of a longer journey.

Being on Netflix gained him a huge audience, made him a household name in a lot of places he wouldn't be otherwise. Now the goal is to capitalize on that audience by leveraging their loyal viewership, the strength of the Meateater family of brands, and their strategic partnerships (like the Pack Out Coffee collaboration with BRCC) to drive more sales.
 
evergreenethos said:
Reach may not be the most important metric now. Still important, just not their north star metric. I think the Netflix deal was one phase of a longer journey.

Being on Netflix gained him a huge audience, made him a household name in a lot of places he wouldn't be otherwise. Now the goal is to capitalize on that audience by leveraging their loyal viewership, the strength of the Meateater family of brands, and their strategic partnerships (like the Pack Out Coffee collaboration with BRCC) to drive more sales.
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Yes. But by reach I meant to those outside of hunting / anti-hunters etc. as mentioned in the post I was responding to.

Withdrawing back to the website only (even if he drags a % of those from Netflix), is not expanding into new territory ideologically. It is concentrating those who want/like to hunt in order to sell them goods as you say.

It’s impressive and depressing to have watched this happen in a way.
 
lmao.....

The show was fine.

It's free.
No ads.

And still, you guys complain.... haha Short of taking you with him is there anything the guy can do right?

The only bummer with it not being on Netflix is the fact they will lose a rather large non hunter audience they had. I don't imagine those folks will hunt the show down.

I've had multiple non hunters find out I'm a hunter and ask if I've ever seen the show meateater. The give me some sort of version of 'its pretty good".
 
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