Audiences: Technology and the impact on consumptiont

In the final lecture of the assessment, we looked at new technologies and the impacts on consumption, focusing specifically (but not limited to) sport. Examples used within the lecture included ESPN and Sky Sports in order to illustrate how sports have been programmed to either fill time or be used a ‘special’ and the issues associated with the need for new content.

Recently having joined Netflix, paying monthly for my subscription to their services, I find myself spending endless hours watching television series which I usually wouldn't contemplate watching, and in doing this, I can pause and resume watching at any time. Before this advancement, audiences would only watch programmes broadcasted on analogue television, however with Netflix producing and advertising their own shows, audiences have a wide variety of options available. One text, (Everett and Caldwell: 2003) looks (amongst other aspects) about programming strategies, with channels like CBS creating "women's nights" (Everett and Caldwell: 2003, 134) in order to compete and counterpart other networks. A similar situation may be occurring here in streaming services such as Sky Go giving Netflix some competition. By creating such services, it is clear that "video-on-demand and finally the internet all promoted a fragmentation of the flow, and thus a precipitous decline of the major networks..." (Everett and Caldwell: 2003, 134).

The theories mentioned in this reading allow us to understand the impact that technological advancements have had on both how producers see broadcasting (and how they strategise because of this), and how audiences receive these new advancements. What struck me as interesting were some of the terms coined for audiences cancelling services and moving to another, amongst others. Whether they were coined by (Everett and Caldwell: 2003, 135) or not, the concept still proves fascinating in that I have done this myself and "churned" from one streaming service to another. This shows how vital strategising is for companies in order to maintain custom with their audiences, further leading Netflix (as one) to begin creating original series, to create their own uniqueness.

After reading this text, I found that I wanted to delve a little further into how streaming services are marketed within the industry in order to allow audiences to watch something other than standard analogue (now digital television) at home. In order to do so I would focus specifically on Netflix, maybe including findings from another similar service (for further validation), looking at television advertisements, online adverts, marketing strategies (including of celebrity culture; for example the Ricky Gervais advertisement) as well as the creating of the Netflix Original Series. My methodology may consist of a visual ethnography, and may take into consideration focus groups of audiences subscribed to aforementioned services.

EVERETT, A AND CALDWELL, J (Eds) (2003), New Media: Theories and Practices of Digitextuality, Routledge, London and New York - pp 127-144 (Accessed 25th March 2015)

NETFLIX via. YOUTUBE (25th August 2014) "Ricky Gervais - "Superfan" - Netflix commercial - EMMY2014 -HD" [online]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SZv2vPdj6g (Accessed 25th March 2015)