Kolby Wagner Dr. Frye English 101 22 January 2016 Living the Stream Today it seems that television viewers have abandoned their television sets and turned to binge watching ten episodes at a time on their favorite streaming sites. Why would a person want to watch one episode a week of Pretty Little Liars when they can watch all four seasons on Netflix? As streaming sites become more popular, television has had to adapt to fit into this newly developing technology in order to retain its prevalence. Thus, streaming sites such as Netflix and Hulu have drastically affected the television industry in three central ways: people can now watch their favorite episodes on any device and they can do so without advertisements, and television networks …show more content…
On regular television, there are usually three commercial break periods for a thirty minute time period. During each of these commercial breaks, usually about four advertisements play. Originally, DVR, Digital Video Recordings, allowed people to record television shows that they missed to watch later. Unfortunately, DVRs offer limited storage space and can delete the show if it stays longer than thirty days. On the other hand, streaming sites allow people to watch their shows with all the seasons, uninterrupted by advertisements. There are some websites that make a person watch an advertisement for thirty seconds and then let them return the video. In 2006, Youtube started adding advertisements to their commercials when there was a surplus amount of viewers tuning into watch their programs. However, streaming sites offer packages in which there is commercial-free streaming. For example, Hulu has options where you can manage “add-ons” which can give viewers “showtime movies” and “commercial-free videos” (“About Hulu”). Add-ons cost additional money to the seven dollars a month plan, but viewers receive more channels and movie options than the competitor Netflix.These streaming sites create more ways to watch television and cater to the changing society who desire to have entertainment appear in seconds. Since they do not have commercials, streaming sites appeal to society and make more money when …show more content…
In 2014, a poll asserts that “the average United States family watches four hours and fifty-one minutes on television per day, decreasing from last year’s average of five hours and four minutes” (Sifferlin). Moreover, television networks now realize the true competition they have with streaming companies. Therefore, the networks have two main options in order to make money: they can sell their shows for a higher price or they can advertise. Unfortunately, some of the lesser known networks will have a hard time selling their shows because they are not well-known or interesting. Yet, for major television networks, this earns them more money than before. According to an article in Time Magazine, these streaming sites pay major television networks at least 1.75 times the channel pays to broadcast their show (Luckerson). Consequently, these major networks should invest in partnering with Netflix or Hulu to increase their revenue and spread awareness for their television networks. Yet, major networks have recently had to compete with these streaming sites’ own original series. Stranger Things, as an example, is a Netflix original series that was nominated for two Golden Globes. This is one of the many shows that are produced on Netflix that has received praise for their seasons. Additionally, these original series are popular because viewers do not have to wait a week in between episodes.