A negative connotation to ‘power’

Netflix has revolutionised how TV and shows are watched nowadays. Once, people loved going to the cinema, or, renting out films they wanted to watch, or even, loved waiting for their favourite show to start on TV. Everything was slower, and it was a bit of a struggle to watch whatever one wanted if we were to compare it to today. But, one aspect which I think is not considered enough is the existence of Advertisements.

Advertisements; short form audio visual content which promotes a product, unrelated to whatever show one might be watching. Between episodes, there was a 5-10 minute break with consistent advertisements, or also, to split the film in half. Netflix erased this. “(…)perhaps only the commercial load really distinguishes the experience” (Lotz, 2017). As highlighting by Lotz, the commercial load was a distinguishing factor to Netflix’s success.

The way I see it, is something that links back to ‘binge – watching“. Yes, this term partakes in various constructs, but I am more specifically referring to how one can watch their favourite series from start to finish, or favourite film, without one commercial break. It creates a sense of freedom any person would long for. Nowadays, we are so used to this norm, but if you were to tell somebody 20 years ago about how advertisements do not disrupt your viewing anymore, it would leave them in awe.

In conclusion, I am confident when I argue how the elimination of commercial breaks or general advertisements interrupting ones viewing experience of their favourite show or film, ironically, was a showstopper, and revolutionised the concept of how one watches audiovisual content.

Alessandro A. Conzonato

Bibliography:

Amanda Lots, 2017, Portals. A Treatise of Internet Distributed Television, University of Michigan