Martin Dunne looks at how New Media technology is changing the ways in which we watch TV.
It’s a well-established fact that technology has already changed the face of the music industry. With the emergence of iTunes several years ago, digital downloads now account for 98% of all single sales. As a result of such stats, HMV has announced plans to close 60 stores across the UK. As the rise of the digital age of entertainment has changed how music is marketed and produced, it’s interesting to investigate the slow but assured morphing of television content in this new technological era.
Perhaps the most instantly recognisable component of this shift comes in the form of Twitter. All you have to do is type in the trending show you’re watching and you can be immediately plugged into an entire galaxy of water cooler talk, sifting through a nationwide running commentary from friends, strangers and celebrities on everything as it happens.
The influence of social networks goes even further with Facebook. Just as its influence lead to Rage Against the Machine gaining the Christmas no. 1 in 2009, it’s also an indicator of a TV shows popularity, which no doubt has TV commissioners keeping an avid eye on what’s hot and what’s not. After each episode of The Inbetweeners, there was a new Facebook page dedicated to the show. ‘Bus W**kers’ has over 22,000 likes, ‘Jay from The Inbetweeners’ has over 44,000 and ‘The Inbetweeners’ itself has over 3 million. Its presence on social media and popularity with viewers was no doubt one of the key factors that led to the development of a spin-off movie, which in itself became a huge cash cow and had Channel 4 laughing all the way to the bank.
It appears TV executives have (finally) cottoned onto the immediate nature of the internet. More and more shows are opening with a display of appropriate Twiter hashtags: #hignfy (Have I Got News for You), #nmtb (Never Mind the Buzzcocks) and #newsnight (this one speaks for itself, surely?) As well as this, audiences are now regularly treated to dramas that unfold over consecutive midweek nights (the most likely time to catch viewers), urging you to tune in and not miss out on the mass-scale event of each production. The BBC has treated us to Public Enemies, Great Expectations and Five Daughters while Channel 4 recently cottoned on with urban thriller Top Boy.
Unfortunately, there’s one fundamental flaw in promoting the epic importance of tuning in to each show as its broadcast live across the nation: systems like Sky+, 4OD and ITV Player can provide consumers with programmes at whatever time is most convenient to them without nearly as many adverts. And since new recording devices empower viewers to skip these adverts, it’s undermined and devalued the importance for them to hold a primetime slot that was previously guaranteed a captive audience. Last year’s ruling deemed product placement on UK TV acceptable, a godsend for producers, but one that could easily become a source of irritation for avid viewers.
Viewing figures for these replays also have an overwhelming influence on the odds of a show getting re-commissioned. Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle was brought back for a second series based almost entirely on iPlayer figures.
The biggest question of all is: where will it all go from here? Will TV listings exist twenty years from now? Or will there just be an ever-lasting stream of potentially downloadable programming, each equipped with advertisements that can’t be skipped and filled to the brim with characters showing off their drink cans, flash cars and washing detergents? Probably.
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