It's not entirely a new occurrence on video sites, but Quaterlife has been announced to be shown on Myspace. While it may not be the first series shown entirely on the internet, it's probably the most high profiled. Between co-producers Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz, there's enough big-name products they have made that you would think that their show would make it on prime time. But it didn't, and was cut in 2005 and didn't make the lineup. So instead of trying TV again, they're showing it on MySpace.
It's a nice coincidence, as I just mused yesterday what other media moguls must think of gaming starting to take a lead in revenues. Advertising agencies must be starting to realize younger people are spending a lot more time on the web than at a TV, whether it be on social network sites like MySpace, or gaming online. And why wouldn't they? The television is a one-way interaction, viewers have no real input on the outcome of what's going on. The internet is more two-way interaction, allowing input from the user. Gaming is another step ahead of surfing the web in that interaction, but both allow for the user to feel like they're doing something besides watching the screen.
Yes, Quarterlife isn't interactive on it's own, it still relies on user compliance to sit and just watch, but the medium through which it is presented is far more dynamic and interactive on it's own. And MySpace is a great place to start for a digital series. YouTube would be another good start, but between the theme present on Quarterlife (which mimics a lot of MySpace users in a way) and the fact that MySpace has more social networking involved, the site is a better place to host it. Success of the show will actually hinge on viewers drawing in their friends from the site as well, much like the mechanism in which the networking site itself relies on for success. Recent successes from Will Ferrell's Funny or Die in attracting star power for shorts and SNL's Digital Shorts give a more solid building block that allows for high-production style shows like this to build from as well.
CNN, on the link above, has a analyst (Josh Bernoff) saying that while online TV shows have a potential market, that cable is still the big show, and that it'll take decades still for it to change status. I have a feeling it'll make its way before that. It all depends on delivery of content. For the most part, viewing audiences of cable television are older people. The younger demographics tend to either watch movies or... get this - surf the internet! So of course, in a few decades, those currently watching webisodes will be cable TV's target demographic, and if nothing changes between now and then, they would have to switch their way of thinking. Saying that webisodes will dominate by then is a safe, albeit obvious bet.
To say that webisodes will soon be a strong contender for advertising dollars is more risky to say, but also a very potential reality. All the producers have to realize is; their audience is younger than that of TV. Producing the same bland repeats of a genre they do for cable networks won't garner success. If it does become successful though, the young 19-24 crowd is a very profitable demographic for advertising, and look for revenue to shift towards the new media a lot faster than some are predicting.
No comments:
Post a Comment