Digital video on demand (VOD) has brought so much convenience into our lives, it's almost like pizza where everybody loves it! But, is it possible to love on-demand digital streaming movies, videos and live network news and shows, just a little too much? I mean, there's consequences for everything, right? You eat too much pizza, you get fat. You binge-watch too many things on Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Movies and like, what? Your head explodes?
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| Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Mobile VODs |
Ever hear your mother's voice in your ear that a little too much of anything is not a good thing? So, incessant viewership overload can't be good, I mean, you have to go to work, eat, sleep and go to the bathroom at some point, right?
The first time I heard about binge-watching it was on a morning television show. I thought I had an idea of what it was, but, I just could not get a visual on people actually engaging in this type of activity. Seriously? This is something you do when you're at home sick with the flu, right? Nope. This is something you do when you want to watch twenty uninterrupted series episodes in a row of a specific show, then, do the same thing with another show series, and another (Oniwura, 2015).
Honestly, at some point it would not be my head that would be ready to explode, but, rather my backside... with bedsores from sitting or lying in the same place for so long!
But, the reality is that this is a fast growing audience behavior modification due to the digitization
of streaming VOD. So, instead of going to a friend's house and asking what they want to watch, it's more of an event to watch the entire 7 seasons of the latest series, circumventing most all commercial advertising for the most part. So instead of an hour per episode it's more like 40 minutes per episode. Ok, well, that's not too bad then... -unless they multiply it by like 47 episodes, then, a night of movie watching turns into, -what? A weekend? A week? Have you no lives, people!?!?!?! "LOL!"
Seriously, I just couldn't do it, at least not now, because I am too busy with my own real life, with real responsibilities and issues. This binge-watching seems like more of an escape or addiction than what it was originally designed for as... -entertainment.
As a global community we are becoming the all time content consumers at alarmingly historic rates. Which is great if you are the content provider, but what about the content consumer? Television, movies and video are literally riding the coattails of Web and mobile technology, and that is awesome. But, since there are so many hours in a day, it would lead one to believe that audiences are acclimating their lives to accommodate their news, entertainment and overall media viewership. Because, let's face it, too much of anything can't be good.
The advancements in mobile technology with regard to audience viewership is at a meteoric rise that even people driving are having a difficult time not watching TV or videos on their smart phone when on the road. It's a good thing that self driving vehicles are almost a reality then.
But, mobile technology with it's expected high growth on VOD platforms such as games, network television, movies, music, and in new in-development technologies like interactive and alternate reality (AR), this will make this generation the most connected, and with the most variety of any previous generation of audience viewership ever (Oniwura, 2015).
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| "Mobile Binge-Cat" |
It will be interesting to see if by then if they've also invented a time-travel time machine that adds more hours to each day to make up for all the hours of our lives lost by binge-watching!
As for me I have not attempted to binge-watch yet... probably out of fear that my head really may explode! ..."LOL!" ;-)
Oniwura, C. (2015, June 8). How Technology Has Influenced Audience Viewing Habits.
Retrieved November 6, 2016 from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-technology-has-influenced-audience-viewing-habits-oniwura
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