“A TV network is a logical way to monetize a brand,” Nebraska’s junior senator, Republican Ben Sasse, tweeted this week, channeling increasing speculation in media circles that Trump TV is the likeliest outcome of the celebrity real estate mogul’s 2016 campaign. “Anyone wanna bet against claim that a new cable network will launch soon after Nov 9th?”
Certainly not former CNN President Jonathan Klein—although Klein, the co-founder and chief executive of TAPP Media, a personality-focused network of online video channels, says Trump’s best television play is in the subscriber-based digital world rather than advertising-supported basic cable.
“I would say Trump has all the necessary ingredients to be a huge a success with an ‘over-the-top’ model, not just in terms of his personality but also in terms of paid subscriptions,” Klein told The Daily Beast, using the term of art for video that viewers consume on demand via digital devices and smart TVs.
“He certainly has something to say, an appetite for repeating it endlessly, and an audience and a following that is connected to his personality. Time will tell whether he has a third ingredient—a tribal audience that is connected not only to him but to one another.” – READ MORE