In the past we have seen that content was never the
primary focus of the media industry. A small group of networks produced a
minimal level of entertainment programs for television; however, now content
has been democratized in a way taking away some of the oligopolistic power and
control the media industry once had. Distribution has always been in the center
because producing content was expensive and more difficult for reasons such as
technological limitations, labor, and limited distribution channels. This model
is rapidly changing with the rise of the internet (YouTube in particular),
decreasing costs for technology (software and hardware needed to produce
content) and the ability to distribute to wider audiences. Therefore, I wish to
focus my research on the changing dynamic between content and distribution.
With
the advent of services like youtube, what has happened to content in recent
years in terms of who is producing, how much, diversity? How does technology
fit into this picture taking greatly into consideration the internet? How will
the major networks respond to this large increase in content available to
consumers? Finally, how does the increase of content fit into issues related to
viewer/consumer behavior in terms of how they watch and enjoy their
entertainment?
The
first couple research questions are meant to create the context of what is
happening today with content; however, the last two questions will likely be of
the most importance to me because I believe that the fragmenting of audiences
and the proliferation of content go hand in hand with issues related to
internet streaming tv, and the effects upon the media industries are going to
have interesting implications for many of the networks. I wonder about what
they will do with the increasing available content? Will they syndicate it?
Will they try to quell it or produce more content themselves? Will they begin
to create shows that are only available online? Many of the new popular shows
out there today (Workaholics, Children’s Hospital) started out with people
making videos on YouTube or CollegeHumor so I believe we need a better
understanding of how user created content fits into the larger media picture.
It is important because it would appear as though the power is shifting from
the media networks to the user/viewers in many ways that might come to define
the way entertainment functions down the road.
