The online future of television
TV channels may disappear as more viewers turn to Netflix, HuluPlus and other online sources for their favorite shows.
In the future – 20 years from now – we may look back on
House of Cards as the show that changed television.
Self-producing on Netflix turned out to a brilliant move for
House of Cards, prompting
popular media to wonder: will this novel experiment soon become the norm?
The idea of "
binge-watching" a series is nothing new (see
Portlandia's
Battlestar Galactica sketch) but we used to have to wait until the DVD boxsets of our favorite shows came out before we could devour a season (or ten) in one sitting. Releasing an entire new season at once, however, allows the viewer to watch episodes at their own pace, without having to wait for the next one to arrive. According to
House of Cards showrunner
Beau Willimon, this bundled style of distribution is the way of the future:
"It's fully in the audiences hands to decide what their own experience is," Willimon says, "The same way that you read a novel. You can read Anna Karenina in two days, or you can read it over a year. And I think that's better because it personalizes the experience."
In a culture that wants everything fast and
right now, this strategy of "personalized viewing" has
caught on like wildfire. Netflix, once struggling from the loss of subscribers after
much-maligned fee hikes,
doubled its stock this year and sailed its way back into patrons' good graces. In addition to
House of Cards and the Eli Roth werewolf saga
Hemlock premiering in April, Netflix has acquired a much-hyped reboot of
Arrested Development, the quirky
family sitcom cancelled by Fox in 2006 and now prepping for a brand new season. Netflix will release all 14 episodes simultaneously in May, with a possible
big-screen adaptation to follow.
Not to be outdone by Netflix
revolutionizing television, other streaming sites like YouTube and HuluPlus have developed their own self-produced programming to draw TV viewers online. Hulu has
three original series lined up for this summer (
The Awesomes,
The Wrong Mans and
Behind the Mask), YouTube will soon begin
charging $1 to $5 per month for premium content and DirectTV is banking on a
House of Cards-like hit with its new original series
Rogue, which stars Thandie Newton and debuts April 3.
Meanwhile, ratings continue to
plummet for traditionally broadcast network and cable series, including zeitgest-y fan favorites like
Girls, Breaking Bad and
Parks and Recreation. But when most of these shows are available to stream on HBOGo, Hulu and other less-legal (but
oft-frequented) bit torrent sites, one can see why so many people are cutting off their cable providers and turning to their computer screens instead.
Viewers will continue syncing their laptops to their HD screens in order to best absorb the gore of
The Walking Dead and the glamour of
Mad Men, but television channels as we know them may become obselete in the next few years. Instead, audiences will clamor for more instantly-accessible content, and TV providers will go online to keep them satisfied.
How do you watch your favorite shows? Do you think that web series are the way of the future? Leave a comment below, send me a tweet @leahkpickett or join the conversation on Facebook.
