Every major press outlet is reporting on it. All of the studios have dabbled in it. Many celebs have tried to get into it. All of the video sharing sites are adapting to it. So what is Web Television, and why oh why is everyone still not getting it?
Some will say they watch their fave television shows online, some will say they stream videos on Netflix, and some will talk about that Inception parody they caught on Collegehumor or the cat video they saw on Facebook (if they still click on FB links, yikes!). By and large, when the general public thinks of online video, they think quick and silly. Online video is kind of like America’s Got Talent. Every once in awhile, a good singer shows up but mostly you’re watching for the crazy.
Web Television (aka web series, web tv, online series, webisodes) is NOT that. It’s episodic. It’s often longer. It tells a story. It has strong characters. Sound like broadcast television? Well, the lines are blurring in terms of production. But there is a big difference — whereas broadcast television is usually about appealing to a broad audience, web television usually speaks intimately to specific groups.
Pardon me if you’ve heard this one before, but in the world of Web Television, there are two groups (INSERT LAW AND ORDER THEME) — the studios/networks and the independents. Back in the wee days of the 2000′s, independent creators starting making some cool online series. Then the studios and networks were like woooah me want too and started playing around with web television and they made exactly what you’d expect them to make. Lots of soapy teen shows and male-driven comedies. Occasionally they’d produce a thriller. Basically, they were producing exactly what they were producing on television except they were making no profit on this. They had a few popular successes in 2009-2010. Then poof. Since they were dishing out a production budget with zilch profit, many have now reportedly pulled out of web originals all together to shift their focus to derivative (aka safe) content (via today’s AP, via Huffington Post). [However, it should be noted that the niche cable network BET actually took the opposite tactic and signed independent creators like Al Thompson and Scott Brown to deals.]
That would be an understandable (though uncreative) business move if not for the fact that most of the major video sites (Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, and Blip) literally just announced major changes to put more focus on episodic web originals. Plus there have been off-the-top-of-my-head at least four mainstream articles about web series lately, New York Times, LA Times, Bostinnovation, and Fast Company. Weird time to throw in the towel? Si, muy… weird. (How do you say weird in Spanish incidentally?)
It should be noted that all of the articles mentioned above actually focused on independent web series (even Crackle’s The Bannen Way began as an independent.) Hmm… I just don’t think the studios and networks are actually watching web television, nor does it seem like they are reading the news. If they were, there are about 20 creators whom they’d immediately put on speed-dial and they wouldn’t dare leave the game now. If web television is the new independent film festival market, it’s just kind of weird that nobody’s buying yet. And I hold that up to the fact that people still don’t get what it is. The common thread in all the mainstream press is, why is this not hitting yet?
Gloss doesn’t sustain viewership online. Connection does.
So, what is Web Television, and why haven’t people gotten it yet?
The reason that cat video or baby video spreads is because people relate to it. It’s often shot on a shitty camcorder, the editing is non-existent, the sound is wretched, but it feels authentic and intimate. Now, web television certainly has moved on from camcorders, but the premise still remains the same.
Interactive stories. Intimate stories. Individual stories. After watching hundreds of web series at this point, I have come to the conclusion that web television is first and foremost about feeling a connection — whether it’s because a character is speaking to you, or the experience is familiar, or your ethnic group or financial group or sexual community is being represented. Even the cinematography in web television has an intimate, evocative quality to it. Web series are not about diluting your content to reach the largest audience possible but rather about being specific enough to connect to the one person at the computer… and then repeat that over and over and over again.
Networks, studios, you dig? Now if you’d put the money where the makers are, then you’d see that ROI.
What do you think?
DARYN
Great insight in this article. I’ve been trying to get the Discovery Networks to do a proper web show for a few years now. But all they want is shorter versions of what they’re already putting online. Oh well. Maybe one day they’ll get it. In the meantime, I’m going to keep producing my show on my own! I’d love to hear what you think of it–www.NatureBreak.org.
Hey Daryn, just came across this post! Great job and great question. Why is it that people are still asking what web television is? It has all the elements it needs to be successful. And most importantly, Web TV is authentic television!
Daryn,
Interesting insights you share here. I believe that it’s still early days for WebTV, but the momentum is building, and it will continue to grow until it becomes mainstream. There’s no reason for that not to happen once awareness, distribution devices, and good content become more readily available.
Revision3 seem to have the model right, with shows in a specific niche (tech), high production values, and an understanding of marketing.
I’m doing the same with my show (“Help! My Business Sucks!”) for small business owners, and it’s already become successful beyond my dreams.
regards
Andrew