Unscheduled streaming TV enables users to watch content whenever and wherever they want without being restricted by a TV station’s set airtime. However, is the industry benefiting from this new TV model? From the spectator’s viewpoint, this essay will re-examine how the on-demand streaming TV model has affected the television industry, demonstrating both the emancipation it brings as well as its potential drawbacks.

The off-demand strategy creates a new watching cadence for the user, similar to eating a bucket of fried chicken wings all at once! This is particularly appropriate for the fast-paced lifestyle of today. When the series Stranger Things first debuted on Netflix, for instance, the entire season was made available all at once, enabling viewers to watch everything in a week or less. This not only caused the program to become incredibly popular, but it also allowed viewers to fully immerse themselves in the narrative. Furthermore, Lotz (2017) notes that the de-advertised nature of online TV platforms enables viewers to watch the content in a freer and purer state because the non-scheduled model eliminates all of the advertisements that would have been shown during the episodes (Lotz, 2017, p. 79).

On the other hand, consuming an entire bucket of fried chicken wings in one sitting can result in a stomachache the next day. —- When many episodes are released at once, viewers might experience “information overload” and the psychological pressure of fast viewing, which compels them to watch the entire season in a short amount of time. Jenner calls this psychological pressure to “catch up” with the show and watch the entire season “binge-watching,” which can occasionally cause viewer weariness, particularly if the episodes are dense or overly structured (Jenner, 2018).

Furthermore, with the non-scheduled model, viewers quickly devour episodes as soon as they go live, social interactions become fragmented, and the intensity of discussion can quickly diminish. According to Jenner (2018), this technique may cause viewers’ social media conversations to become less permanent and fail to establish a consistent viewing community.

Although the unscheduled streaming television model offers viewers freedoms like flexibility in their viewing habits, it also has disadvantages, including pressure to watch and difficulties making choices. In addition to offering convenience and independence, Netflix’s and other streaming services’ unscheduled business models have fundamentally altered how we engage with TV shows and created a new set of challenges.

References:

Lotz, A.D. (2017). Portals: A treatise on internet-distributed television. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Maize Books, An Imprint Of Michigan Publishing.

Mareike Jenner (2018). Netflix and the re-invention of television. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

By Xinran Liu 33732297