Critically Evaluate the Impact Social Media and Online Streaming are Having on TV Audience Behaviour and Plurality in the Media.
1- Introduction
In the modern age, the online world is something almost inescapable. Advances in technology have influenced almost every part of life and continue to adapt. Within the TV industry, technology has vastly changed how things are done; from how we film to what we film.
With the ever-growing popularity and presence of social media, audiences are able to take a more active role- both with interacting with each other, and creating content themselves. The online world is ever expanding, and has begun to completely change content and how audience receive it.
The creation of Web 2.0 allows audiences to become immersed in content, both as users and as creators. Though this means audiences are now able to tailor their experiences to suit their own personal preferences, it may be suggested that this can create difficulty for new producers. It is now possible for anyone to be a creator, and thus there is an abundance of content covering every imaginable topic.
2- Social Media and TV Audience Behaviour
Alongside the ability to create, audiences can use social media to interact with their favourite shows and share their opinions. Through platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, audiences are able to form groups and communicate with each other. These fandoms and communities can have real impact on shows due to the volume of people involved, often gaining celebrity backing.
An example of this could be the response from fans after news broke that TV show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine would be ending.
One journalist from The Guardian writes; “When it emerged that Fox would not be renewing the series, fans pleaded with other networks to pick up the show. Using the SaveB99 hashtag, they posted gifs and clips from the show on Twitter and Instagram and started a petition calling for the series to continue.” (McKee, 2018)
With the use of social media platforms, both ordinary fans and celebrities reached out. For example; famous director, Guillermo del Toro tweeted; “Brooklyn Nine-Nine has given us fully human characters, beautiful, powerful, flawed, vulnerable, majestic… In whichever form, B99 must return. It will. And I will be there to watch. And, it is my hope that I hope that, this time, a lot more people do too.” (Guillermo del Toro, 2018).
Due to the mass appeal from fans, the show announced its return. This example demonstrates how social media has changed audience behaviours- audiences are becoming more active and involved in the content they consume. This allows producers to gather more feedback from audiences to ensure they are giving them what they want.
In ‘Television, Social Media and Fan Culture’, the authors state: “Social media has changed the face of fan cultures and how fans interact with and about the medium of television. Social media has brought about a revolution in fan culture, from fan uprisings to save programs to entire groups and pages dedicated to mourning lost programs and characters.” (F. Slade et al, 2015). This statement strongly supports that social media creates a positive environment for active audiences.
In contrast to this, though social media can bring audiences together to share their thoughts and opinions- it can be argued that audiences are sharing too much. Through social media platforms, fans group together to discuss the latest episodes of shows. However for fans that are not up to date, it is best to avoid social media as a whole to avoid the mass of spoilers shared about the plotlines.
One study on spoilers looks at Game of Thrones; a show that generates possibly the largest amounts of spoilers on social medias. The study reports “We have calculated how many original tweets (excluding Retweets) the account @GameOfThrones receives on a regular day (meaning those days when they have not aired an episode). On the 9th of August, the account received 4,471 original tweets from 3,616 different users. This means that, even though episodes are aired on Sunday, the conversation about these phenomenon never stops.” (Tweet Binder Team, 2017).
Due to wide fan bases spanning on all social media platforms, it is suggested that it is impossible to escape spoilers. In reference to this, a writer for ‘The Media Blog’ states; “In the era of fast (unsolicited) information at your fingertips, spoilers are an inevitable accessory and although their occurrence can be marginally avoided, they are like virtual weeds that grow at will and spring a surprise when you least expect it. Ultimately, the only choice we have is to navigate through them.” (Dayo, B, 2017). This point argues that, despite the positives of being able to interact and share with like-minded people, social media creates a platform that can ruin content for some. Due to this, there is now a hatred for the discussion on social media due to the vast number of spoilers.
3- Social Media in Terms of Plurality
The presence of social media groups and fandoms not only allows audiences to share their opinions, it also allows them to interact with the producers and creators of the shows. Audiences continue to develop on their ideas based on consumed content, and group together to discuss these theories online. The fan theory as a whole is a blossoming genre. In some cases, fan theories can illicit response from producers and creators of the shows theorized about.
For example; following the release of the episode titles for season 2 of Stranger Things, the creators of the show (The Duffer Brothers) discussed fan theories about the show;
Matt: ‘Some of the fan theories online are amazing. Most are wrong, but I’ve read a few that are right or very close. Is it Reddit? Some of those people have figured stuff out based off of the chapter titles.’
Ross: ‘Some of these theories are elaborate and smart. They're not crap. I love reading this stuff.’ (O’Connell, M, 2016)
Creators coming together to discuss fan theories shows the power of social media. Fan theories allow multiple different views to be heard and shared. With many fans sharing the same theory and communicating ideas, plurality can clearly be demonstrated.
In an article on the Little White Lies blog, one writer discusses how fan theories at times, can completely change a viewing experience. Though not all make sense or are centred around important plot lines, they are interesting to read and to consider when watching the content discussed. The writer states; “This is the power of a good fan theory, one that lets you view a movie or television show in a completely new light, making you question and even rethink what you’ve seen. It often doesn’t even matter if the story supports it.” (Cotter, P,2017)
This being said, by being given the opportunity to speculate and be heard, audiences can go off the rails- ruining plots by jumping too far ahead and guessing what is to come. Much like spoilers, fan theories and speculation published online and on social media can sometimes lead to plots being figured out before episodes have even been aired.
In one instance concerning the show ‘Mr. Robot’, online discussions of the show saw audiences guess the twist of a whole season. Though it could be applauded that the audience were so receptive that they managed to figure it out, this causes major problems for creators as they now have to adapt to come up with plot devices that are beyond any audience anticipations. One writer states; “Fan theorizing has always been part of online TV discussion, going back to the days when speculation about the alien conspiracy on The X-Files fueled seemingly thousands of message boards. But 2016 felt like a tipping point; this was the year showrunners stopped being able to hide anything, thanks to a whole industry dedicated to guessing their secrets.” … “If every twist can be guessed, what’s the point in having twists?”(VanDerWerff, 2016)
Though fan theories can allow for audiences to interact more, both with creators and with other fans- the masses of platforms dedicated to figuring out plots and theorizing. While these groups are good for audiences, they really aren't a good sign for producers.
4- Online Streaming and TV Audience Behaviour
With more and more online streaming services available, audiences are now able to access content whenever they want, whenever they want. On demand sites also allow audiences to be more in control of what they watch as they are able to search for specific programmes.
Though this is good for audiences, this can cause problems for producers as they now have to work harder to create unmissable content. It is argued that, due to online streaming, the ‘water-cooler moment’ has ceased to exist. One article reminisces; “Water-cooler chatter at work has gone from ‘I can’t believe that Monica and Chandler hooked up!’ to ‘Don’t say anything, I haven’t seen it yet!’. Twitter has replaced the water cooler for those still brave enough to watch TV live, but true water-cooler moments are mostly extinct.” (Buchman, 2015)
This argues that online streaming takes away from audiences forming connections and sharing human moments. Users are no longer able to discuss programmes due to the fact that the content is not viewed at the same time- having video on demand allows audiences to catch up whenever they want, meaning they no longer make a point of watching the show when it is broadcast.
The booming success of BBC’s ‘The Bodyguard’ does however prove that this is not impossible. With the challenge of creating unmissable content in order to attract viewers, there is more of a push for gripping dramas. One article suggests; “Those ‘water-cooler moments’ felt as if they might becoming a thing of the past as streaming and on-demand meant that viewers were no longer confined by schedules. But Bodyguard’s success (which has been bolstered by on-demand viewing on iPlayer) means that not watching on Sunday evenings means missing out and falling victim to spoilers.” (Bakare, 2018)
This argues that, though online streaming does allow audiences to catch up, falling behind can mean audiences fall victim to spoilers posted on social media platforms. This further supports that, though social media allows audiences to come together- it can also cast a negative shadow in terms of the masses of spoilers posted following the release of new shows.
5- Online Streaming in Terms of Plurality
The popularity of online streaming services with audiences has led to sites developing personalised home pages; allowing users to find things they want to watch, alongside recommendation's based on their niche viewing habits. Personalised home pages help people to discover new content, however, personalised pages are not representative of all content that is available- meaning that audiences are not shown all possible content.
One case looks at how personalised homepages tailor what content is shown, while also suggesting that the device can further be used to promote original content above other available listings.
“Participants commented that the recommendation list has helped them explore content that they had not previously heard of, and opened them to new genres that they never thought they would watch. Out of 24 collected comments, 6 participants raised concerns regarding Netflix original programming. According to the comments, some of the participants pointed out that, in their personalized recommendation list, Netflix originals always appeared before other content, and Netflix tends to promote their original content in the recommendation list.” (Yan, 2017)
This raises the idea that online streaming services such as Netflix not only use personalised pages to suggest content based on the audiences viewing history, but also used the platform to advertise their own content. Though using personalised pages to advertise is an issue, on sites that don’t have original content- the fact that only a small amount of content is shown so to fit the audiences viewing habits. This means that audiences are not able to see other content available, which further creates issues for producers whose content is not promoted due to not fitting into a very specific niche.
6- Conclusion
Social Media
Though lacking personal interaction and real connection, fandoms and communities allow for people to really get into the show and interact- creating a more immersive experience. Though this allows them to feel part of the show, some of these fandoms can go too far and ruin it for others (e.g. spoilers). Content should be enjoyed for what it is and not exploited for crazed fans. Fandoms getting involved in the shows are good, and fans quickly unravelling plots is inevitable. Though fans being two steps ahead of the shows can cause problems for producers, it can also help the creators to know what is predictable of them and allow them to adapt.
Online Streaming
Though it is good to be able to access content whenever and wherever, this does stop people from interacting and watching things together. Event TV seems to be on the decline, however, due to spoiler culture- some audiences are returning to watch gripping dramas to avoid having to steer clear of ruined plots if they lag behind.
Advancements in online streaming allowing for more personalised content allow for audiences to access shows relevant to their interests, meaning it is faster for them to find shows. Though personalized recommendations are good when deciding what to watch, audiences aren't given the full experience and shown content that they may be interested in. The recommendations capitalise on things we have already watched and put us into a niche- thus taking away anything from genres we haven't yet watched as it assumes that we aren't interested.
REFERENCES
McKee, R (2018) Brooklyn Nine-Nine saved by NBC after outcry on social media In: theguardian.com At: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/may/12/brooklyn-nine-nine-saved-by-nbc-after-social-media-outcry-guillermo-del-toro (Accessed: 5.11.18)
Guillermo del Tormo (2018) @RealGDT [twitter] At: https://twitter.com/realgdt/status/995039920656920583?lang=en (Accessed: 5.11.18)
F. Slade, A et al (2015) Television, Social Media, and Fan Culture [online] At: http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucreative-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4086458 (Accessed: 5.11.18)
Dayo, B (2017) The Media Blog [online blog] In: ynaija.com At: https://ynaija.com/the-media-blog-is-social-media-ruining-films-and-tv-shows/ (Accessed: 5.11.18)
Tweet Binder Team (2017) Tweet Binder Blog [online blog] In: tweetbinder.com At: https://www.tweetbinder.com/blog/spoilers-social-media/ (Accessed: 5.11.18)
Cotter, P (2017) Little White Lies [online blog] In: lwlies.com At: https://lwlies.com/articles/how-fan-theories-changed-the-viewing-experience/ (Accessed: 8.11.18)
O’Connell, B (2016) The Duffer Brothers Are Reading Your 'Stranger Things' Reddit Theories In: hollywoodreporter.com At: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/stranger-things-season-2-duffer-937408 (Accessed: 8.11.18)
VanDerWerff, T (2016) Online theorizing ruined too many TV shows in 2016 In: vox.com At: https://www.vox.com/culture/2016/12/2/13813118/westworld-fan-theories-mr-robot (Accessed: 8.11.18)
Buchman, E (2015) 5 Things We Miss About TV That the Internet Totally Ruined In: Digital Trends At: https://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/5-ways-tv-has-gotten-worse-since-online-streaming/ (Accessed: 12.12.18)
Bakare, L (2018) British TV drama for autumn 2018: water-cooler moments are back In: theguardian.com At: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/sep/14/british-tv-drama-autumn-2018-bodyguard-succession-killing-eve (Accessed: 12.11.18)
Yan, Jingyu (2017) ‘Identifying Online Streaming User Value in the Netflix Recommendation System' [Thesis] Drexel University (Accessed: 12.11.18)