Linear TV isn’t dead, and Netflix will show you why.

A network executive once told me that creating television today is like “entering the Wild West”. Indeed, the entertainment industry has always been at the forefront of change— whether it be technological or cultural. Especially now, brands have to navigate through the endless competition and the “cord-cutters” (or the even more pervasive “cord-nevers”) changing the way that we consume television. Especially as younger viewers consume most of their entertainment through streaming and mainly watch content on their laptops and phones, it’s understandable why people might think that linear television is a dying industry. And to those who think that— I disagree. Here’s why:

In the age of streaming, the options are limitless. Think of all the streaming services that you’re subscribed to— you probably have more than one. Since last November, HBO Max, Peacock, Apple TV+, Disney+ and (the infamously failed) Quibi all debuted, and more are coming (big names including Paramount+ and Discovery/BBC). With all this content and competition — often touting bigger budgets for production and marketing, on top of it all — the long-ruling cable networks have lost the throne when it comes to dominating television. But, they are far from dead.

To no surprise, the predicament of “decision fatigue” is higher than ever. The average viewer will spend 187 hours a year just looking for something to watch on Netflix. This is a huge issue streamers have been trying to combat. You can draw in subscribers with a huge content library, but if they sift through too many endless, unheard-of original series, you won’t be able to retain your subscribers.

Breaking from our technologically deterministic view of the constantly mutating behemoth that is the entertainment industry— the solution for this new issue draws from the past. I’m talking about linear channels.

I remember when I was a kid, every Sunday my sister and I would pop on the local Channel 4 to watch our morning cartoons. I had no idea what was going to be on air, but I knew it would be in the genre of what I wanted to watch. My point with this anecdote is— even though many audience members these days don’t actually have cable or broadcast television, our desire to watch something without thinking so hard about it is still there.

This week, Netflix began testing out a linear channel in France. Called “Netflix Direct”, pre-existing Netflix content will be programmed into a linear format— like how cable and broadcast TV does it. In a statement released by Netflix, they reason that “Maybe you’re not in the mood to decide, or you’re new and finding your way around, or you just want to be surprised by something new and different.” With over 9 million subscribers in the country and a healthy traditional TV audience, France will be the first to test this feature out. Netflix also recently rolled out a “Shuffle” feature to help users combat indecisiveness.

Peacock — NBCUniversal’s streaming service — also has re-invigorated the linear channel on their platform. With many brands already falling under the NBCU umbrella, there are channels for sports, reality television, news and more. Also notable, NBCU now schedules the premieres of Late Night tele-casts to air on their streaming service three and a half hours before the show even hits the NBC broadcast network (and in essence, turning the traditional on-air time slot into a re-run of what first debuts on Peacock).

The takeaway? These ways of watching aren’t new.

Traditional broadcast and cable television networks are great at compiling programming so that the viewer doesn’t have to sift through every show available. Even though we’re shifting the platforms that we watch on, it makes sense for streaming services to incorporate the linear channel into their services. We acknowledge that the subscribers of a streamer like Netflix are diverse, and so streamers have been trying to produce programming to hit all the genres that an audience might want. However, if a streamer is going to give the viewers everything under the sun (SNL even did a skit about this a few years back), you should also make it easier for them to navigate it. We can do this by combining the best parts of linear television (i.e. programmed linear channels and premiere times for live TV) and the vast streamer content libraries.

So, what about traditional linear television channels?

To say streaming is the future (duh) is a generalization. Just like when cable television was becoming the next-big-thing, there were certain networks that beat out others. The nuances and specific brands of each service matter. For example, Bravo (and I’m not just repping for them because I’ve worked there) has a huge and intensely loyal fanbase and still pulls in extremely strong ratings— despite being a traditional linear network. They also have endless ancillary markets (Bravocon, Watch What Happens Live, multiple podcasts and products from Bravolebs, etc.). You even have to pay extra for Peacock just to watch their content. Each show on Bravo — though they range from wine-throwing housewives to hard-working yacht crews — give the viewer the same drama and humor that’s promised as a part of the Bravo brand. It’s this consistency of the specific Bravo brand that makes their programming so reliable and successful.

As more traditional television companies get into the streaming wars, keep an eye out for how they transition their traditional linear brands. Consider how Peacock has already done so. And as for more purely-streaming platforms (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc), it’s not far off to think that they will adopt — and eventually even perhaps normalize — linear channels on streaming.