Willy Wonka knew that the impact of bratty kids wanting it now could destroy an industry.
As Generation Y, we have a similar gratuitous desire to access the latest episodes of our favourite television shows- now. But at what cost is fulfilling this desire going to have on our Australian Broadcast industry?
Currently in Australia, accessing content online can be difficult and sometimes Generation Y must grudgingly rely on television to provide our craving fixes. Within this distinct lack of online streaming services available, what would happen if a service became available which made accessing content easily accessible?
Netflix is one internet provider of on-demand internet streaming, which has been discussing entering Australia. They have already secured the domain name of '.au' and according to a 2011 US study by Schonfeld, Netflix significantly impacted the marketplace, with 50% of TV viewers sourcing content from the internet. Already available in the United States, Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, United Kingdom and Ireland, Netflix's appeal and success is its fixed rate service, allowing individuals to cheaply, easily and legally have any show they desire… by a simple mouse ‘click.’
And the Australian market wants it.
To Generation Y its an exciting blessing, of all their teen drama angst questions being answered now. Finaly we can know before the TV dwellers whether Blair will stay with Chuck.
Ultimately, a service appealing to the gratuitous desires of generation Y and Z wanting content now, could however lead to the collapse of the Australian broadcasting media industry. With a large decrease in television viewers, the advertising industry could abandon television and move to online advertising- chasing the crowd in the search of greater economic revenue. By content being readily accessible and unrestricted by the regulations of television, watching local Australian content would decrease in Australia; in favour of other shows.
Unrestricted by the Australian television and movie industries (broadcast, cinemas, distributors, etc.) content regulations, copyright issues and fixed advertising time, how can the Australian industry adapt to remain competitive in this changing environment?
Like Willy Wonka, it is therefore important that 'down the shoot' wanting it now must go. By identify how other media-landscapes have coped with the introduction of internet streamers, our team aims to predict and develop a possible innovative strategy to protect the future of our Australian industry.
Sources:
http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/08/how-people-watch-tv-online/
http://foglicious.tumblr.com/post/15846954971/fav-movie-bitch-veruca-salt-willy-wonka-and-the
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/netflixs_big_data_plans_to_take_over_the_world.php
Sounds great! Another interesting angle might be how online advertising for TV programmes is driving up demand in Australia - we see online the ads for the next season of Mad Men, Game of Thrones, Suits etc. and get caught up in the hype and the count down to the first episode, only to be told that because we live in Australia we have to wait another week/month/year to view it. Is it the general ease of access that draws us to online streaming, or hating the delay between the US launch and the Australian launch?
ReplyDeleteThat's definitely apart of it. Also as Siva Vaidhyanathan's article 'The Ideology of Peer-to-Peer' (2004) points out, Generation Y's mentality of using online streaming is a culturally ingrained practice; derived from the access to technology encouraging us to "rip, burn, mix" (164). The internet was designed as a sharing system, peer-to-peer, so for a generation who grew up within this cultural understanding, how can accessing content that is out there be illegal or wrong?
ReplyDeleteSource:
Siva Vaidhyanathan (2004) 'The Ideology of Peer-to-Peer', The Anarchist in The Library. Basic Books: New York. pp. 164-168.