The Future of Television

             Over the past couple of years, society has seen an emerging shift in television viewing, from network television to online streaming.  In Today’s modern society, people are becoming accustomed to watching their favorite programs online, whether it be on a computer screen, smartphone device or a tablet such as an IPAD. The point is, the trend of watching television is quickly shifting into an online community.  Some people would ask why would I come up with such a claim, well let me explain in detail for you all.

            First of all, we are living in a microwave society, people want things fast and on-demand.  Here’s the problem, when an individual watches a show on TV, they have to construct their life to the network’s schedule on TV, which is why many shows have seen a decline in viewership, because most people cannot afford to watch their favorite shows at the fixed network time. On the other hand,  online streaming television such as Hulu, YouTube and especially Netflix allow viewers to watch their favorite programming when they want to, at any given time, and place. For example, most shows on television can only be seen on that network, and if there is a replay, it will possibly take weeks, or even a syndication deal in order for that show to have any type of replay option. But with online streaming services, the viewer is allowed to watch their favorite programming on many optional devices, and not worry so much about commercials and fixed scheduling, unlike network television.

            Now, I am not saying that network television is becoming an extinct reality; I just feel people are becoming accustomed to our highly digital age of advanced technology, which displays a sense of demand in technology. Recently, YouTube and Netflix have started producing their own scripted series, which have become very popular, which could be due to the whole factor of people having the option of viewing their entertainment when they want, and not when a network schedules a time that may not work for them.  Online television has really seen an increase in viewership over the past few years, because people are realizing that these online networks provide the demand that viewers want, unlike television networks.

            Furthermore, our whole society trend ties into the factor of product management because an online streaming must have a sense of marketing and sales procedure in order to maintain their viewers, which has obviously helped through the source of social media.  An online service such as YouTube must know how to manage its online service well, because they must know how to maintain the same viewers on a daily basis, as well provide a sense of branding who they are. The same goes for Netflix. Netflix started as an online streaming service for movie distributions, but now it saw that its brand was becoming popular and well managed, to the point it decided to create its own programming, which is currently seeing a major success, as some television networks are becoming afraid of Netflix’s growing viewership, which is increasing.

            Once again, I am not stating that network television is dying, but online television is certainly becoming the place where television viewership is taking over.