Binge-watching has changed everything
While TV isn’t new, the combination of streaming services and high-speed internet has revolutionised the way we watch it.
In the past two decades, Netflix has grown from a California-based mailorder DVD outfit to a global streaming service with more than 100 million subscribers.
Now, with a plethora of services to choose from, consumers are able to watch what they want, when they want it. This has led to the cultural phenomenon known as bingewatching, which you can hear us discussing (and doing) in this week’s episode of Superfad.
The popularity of this way of watching TV is, in turn, shaping how shows are being made and distributed. Insights into the viewing habits of Netflix users showing people were inclined to binge encouraged the company to continue its policy of releasing all episodes of an original series at once.
Hema Patel, general manager at Lightbox, which has more than 300,000 subscribers, told us user data helps inform the sorts of shows the company invests in. It’s also helping platforms tailor their own content to viewers’ tastes.
Netflix’s first self-commissioned original content series, House Of Cards, was released in 2013, and other international services have also created exclusive content in order to fight for subscribers.
This year, New Zealand’s Lightbox joined that fight, with the release of two Lightbox Originals representing the service’s move into original programming.
Hot on its heels, Sky Television recently outlined plans to deliver a range of products and services ‘‘focused on the transition to the On Demand world’’.
Patel told us while international shows proved to be a good drawcard for new subscribers, ‘‘more and more New Zealanders want to see people like them on the screen’’.
In February, Patel announced the impending launch of Lightbox Movies, an on-demand pay per view movie service, as well as an upgrade to its technology platform.
Just last month, she added that Lightbox would be expanding its commitment to local content by investing directly in local productions, with new releases High Road (a comedy drama) and Nori Roller Coaster Boy (an animated children’s series).
‘‘So we’ve got an aggressive strategy to move into local. We’re a local business … we should be buying New Zealand content and making it ourselves. I feel like that’s almost my personal duty.’’
Kiwis are loyal to local shows such as Outrageous Fortune, which remained in the Top 10 mostwatched drama series on Lightbox, Patel added.
Last Monday, Sky chief financial officer Jason Hollingworth said the company had invested in redesigning apps and on-demand platforms that would eventually take over its satellite TV offerings.
(Although Sky intended to renew its satellite contract this year, he said.)
The new video on-demand platforms would give customers more tailored recommendations based on their viewing history and make watching on the go easier.
Former Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand boss Paul Brislen said Sky should aggressively push all of its existing customers onto a digital platform, ‘‘because that is the future’’. ●➤ Superfad is a seven-part podcast series, brought to you by Skoda. A new episode is released every Friday on iTunes and Stitcher.