Thoughts

Follow my latest thoughts, essays, and musings here.

 

 Silver Screen to Stream: Examining the State of Video Streaming Platforms

Introduction

“No amount of mourning will revive the vanished rituals -- erotic, ruminative -- of the darkened theater”. Filmmaker and philosopher Susan Sontag wrote this in her 1996 article, The Decay of Cinema, a harsh critique on the state of film at the time. Sontag, who passed away in 2004, took issue with the commercially-driven derivative nature of the movies that had been made since the mid-1970s. She suggested that they were devoid of artistic value and that the love of film was dead. The film industry had no doubt experienced significant change due to rise of television and the growing budgets of blockbuster movies during that time. However, if Sontag were here today, she would likely have even more biting words given the emergence and impact of video streaming platforms. 

Since the rise of the Internet and the mass production and distribution of computer devices, it has become increasingly easier to watch video content - particularly film and television - from anywhere. This phenomenon, often referred to a video streaming, has resulted in the development of unique video streaming “platforms” like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and Amazon’s Prime Video. These services offer consumers the ability to pay a monthly rate in exchange for unlimited viewing access to massive libraries of film and TV that they can watch on their television, computer, or mobile device. The subscription also gives them the ability to watch exclusive content from the platform, which are often original productions. 

While the journey to video streaming technology has been in the making for some time, the technology is now a disruptive force, shifting the foundation of the creative media landscape in a way that Susan Sontag could not have predicted. This paper will begin by reviewing the history of how audiences have viewed film and television, and then detail how video streaming platforms offer a more personalized and engaging viewing experience, which is changing the way people watch film and television. The paper will breakdown the capabilities of the technology that enable this experience, looking at it specifically through the lens of BJ Fogg’s concept of persuasive technology.


Background

Each decade since the 1950s has witnessed significant change in the way audiences watch film and television. The in-home viewing experience took root during the 1950s as more than 8 million televisions were sold and the practice of families gathering around the TV at specified times for TV dinners and viewing hugely popular network programs like I Love Lucy was established (Monaghan). Cinema was screened almost entirely in movie theaters and drive-in theaters at this time as well. In the late 1960s and early 1970s the popularity of television expanded immensely. Televisions became significantly cheaper and smaller, resulting in more rapid widespread adoption. American audiences would tune in by the tens of millions to watch coverage of the Vietnam War and major national events like moon landings. Nighttime television was popularized at this time as well, which consisted of more diverse and adult programming that broke the mold of homogeneous network sitcoms and gave audiences more options for what they could watch. 

By the 1980s, the customizable in-home viewing experienced was catalyzed with VCR technology. People could now record TV shows and movies from their television and play them back when they pleased. Pre-recorded VCR tapes of TV and movies were also available for purchase. Sony and JVC both released their own versions of the VCR, the Betamax and the VHS respectively. Eventually, the greater recording capacity and higher video quality of the VHS won out in the market and the Betamax became a television relic. 

The 1990s and early 2000s continued the effort to create a more engrossing and flexible in-home viewing experience with enhanced technologies like TiVo and the DVD player. Similar to the VCR, TiVo allowed people to record film and TV from their television, but instead of physical tapes, TiVo was a digital system that stored the recordings on a hard drive. This also meant that TiVo users could pause and rewind live broadcasts, and set scheduled recordings for upcoming programs. In 1995, the DVD was created and in the following years it became the standard for watching movies outside of the theater. The disc format provided superior audio and visual quality, and could store interactive elements such as title sequences. As the price point of DVDs dropped, the film industry moved from a rental model of VHS to a purchase model, so people could buy movies on DVD several months after they were in theaters and start to form a collection. Movie rentals still held a place in the market though, as rental services like Blockbuster had stores in most towns throughout the country. During this time, video on demand and cable television like HBO garnered success as well. 


The Age of Streaming

While all of this was happening, video streaming began to develop after the emergence of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 was the dawn of richer, more interactive, and interoperable web pages on the World Wide Web. This unlocked the potential for features like search engine optimization, user participation on web pages, and video hosting. In 1995, ESPN pioneered the concept of streaming over this new Internet format, introducing the website SportsZone that streamed a radio broadcast of an MLB game between the Mariners and Yankees. It was the first live streaming event ever, and it previewed the power of delivering content online. 

The video streaming recognizable today has its roots in the company Netflix. Netflix started as an online DVD rental service in 1998. By 2005 the company had eclipsed 4 million customers, and was seen as a major player in the movie rentals space. In 2007 the company introduced a revolutionary new platform and model, subscription streaming. Customers pay a single monthly price - like rentals - but instead of physical discs, they can select TV shows and movies on the Netflix website and watch them directly on their device or television. There was no pickup or drop off of discs, no restriction to the amount of content that could be watched, and it was available any time and anywhere you could log online. While video on demand online and streaming had been present on other television services and websites, it had never been packaged in such intuitive way for movies and TV shows. 

Since that time, Netflix has iterated and improved their streaming product. They have updated their user interface with carousels making it easier to search through content, they have built out features for making targeted content recommendations, and they have expanded the service for web, tablet, mobile, and television formats. And while the company has cemented itself as a leader in entertainment, they are certainly not alone. Hulu is a television series-oriented video streaming platform that is jointly owned by entertainment conglomerates like Time Warner, Disney, and 21st Century Fox. Amazon, as well as traditional media companies like HBO and Comcast Xfinity have launched streaming video platforms to compete in the space and meet the growing demand for streaming video.


Streaming’s Impact

What started as a niche alternative to rentals has ended up becoming a radical new way of delivering film and television to the masses, and the impact has been clear. At peak hours in 2015, Netflix alone accounted for nearly 37% of Internet bandwidth in North America (Spangler, 2015). Some 60% of American young adults have reported that their primary means of watching video is streaming online (Lee, 2017). And last year, the combined total users of Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu crossed well over 200 million (Feldman, 2017). Beyond the statistics though, the success of streaming platforms original content, the decline in movie theater attendance, and the growing trend of cutting the cord on cable TV suggests that streaming platforms are the future of entertainment video consumption. 


Understanding the Streaming Experience

In examining the history of how audiences’ film and TV consumption habits have changed over the past half-decade, it makes much sense that streaming platforms have been as successful and disruptive as they have. With each new technology and style of delivery, audiences were getting more content to choose from, needed less effort to find and watch what they wanted, got more freedom to tune in and out as they please, and ultimately ended up with a more engaging experience. Streaming platforms like Netflix are optimized to meet these needs, but how exactly do they do it? The answer is, by creating a more personalized and immersive experience. Within that experience, research in the video streaming space shows that there are three elements that make streaming a preferential and effective viewing style: binge-ability, re-watch experience, and surfacing engaging secondary content.


The Binge Factor 

Binge watching video content is perhaps the most notable phenomenon associated with the rise of streaming platforms. While there is no absolute definition of binge watching, most in the research space have identified it as “watching between 2-6 episodes of the same TV show in one sitting” (Feijter, 2016). Watching multiple episodes or films in one sitting is not a new practice, but binging in its current form is the result of how the major streaming video platforms have been designed. 

The primary way that streaming platforms enable binging is through the structure of their content library and generation of recommendations. The platforms have massive collections of full televisions series and they are usually released all at once. This gives users the ability to jump directly into a season of a show without the delay of the traditional weekly release. If users want to finish a season in one day or over a month, they have the complete flexibility to do so. Further, with movies, streaming platforms give users a list of similar movies that they might enjoy once they have finished watching a film. Both of these approaches are supplemented with the autoplay feature, which queues another video to start automatically, five seconds after the previous video has ended. This is used when users are watching one episode or film in a series, so they can be moved on to the next one with little effort. Essentially, the system is guiding users through videos, making it easy to watch hours of content in one sitting. It is also recognized that longer sessions may require watching switching devices because of a change in setting, as one of the findings from the Rigby et al. study Old Habits Die Hard explains, nearly a third of multi-episode sessions occurred on mobile devices (Rigby et al., 2018). As such, picking up where users left off is seamless.

Another piece of enabling binging is in the language and social role that streaming platforms employ. In his 2002 book Persuasive Technology, behavioral scientist BJ Fogg explains that computers can function as persuasive social actors by displaying traits from five different social cues, two of which are language and social roles (Fogg, 2002). When done correctly, technologies can convince their users to make certain decisions and behave a certain way by exerting social influence. In the case of Netflix, the language around the content recommendations includes the users name to appear as though the user is being reached out directly and not as though the recommendations are coming from an algorithm. Further, using phrases like “Because you watched Peaky Blinders” helps to position the platform as though it is a friend of the user passing along a recommendation because it knows them. These subtle elements push users to watch more content consecutively. 

In comparison to older methods of watching TV and movies, binging is far better at satisfying people’s desires to be fully immersed in what they are watching. They can commit themselves to programming for as long or as brief as they would like, and when they are ready to move on the platform gives them recommendations for where to go next. However, there is resistance to the idea of binging, as some people are concerned about the negative health effects and the inherently self-indulgent nature of the practice. A study from Feijter et al. suggests that these concerns are overstated, and that reasonable binging is beneficial for the platform and for users. 

The study sought to examine people’s binging habits and develop a framework for what optimized binging looks like. The major finding of the study was that “an optimal binge-watching experience around three to five episodes” (Feijter, 2018). When the binging was in this range, participants experienced peak satisfaction, and avoided feelings of guilt related to laziness. Additionally, Feijter et al. note that this optimized binging session kept participants wanting to come back to the platform, whereas extended binges made them feel like they needed to distance themselves from the platform for some time. The authors also admit that platforms like Netflix could do more to make users aware of their binging session, such as indicating the time spent on the platform or show how much they have watched. 


Rewatching on Streaming Platforms

Another offering of streaming platforms is the ease with which users can watch the same content over again. In their study on rewatching habits, Bentley and Murray found that 79% of their respondents had rewatched some sort of video in a given week. They also determined that the primary reasons respondents gave for rewatching something was social rewatching, rewatching to change mood, and nostalgia (Bentley and Murray, 2016). The major video streaming platforms all include a diverse list of older television series and movies which are geared towards nostalgic rewatch users. 

In the conclusion of their report, Bentley and Murray provide actionable recommendations for streaming platforms including, “systems can also push notifications to users with links to catch up on the older content in preparation for the new releases”. Currently, Netflix and Hulu both use push notifications that suggest users check out new series, and catch up on previous episodes - which is another instance of Fogg’s persuasive technology.

Overall, optimized binging and encouraged rewatching are unique features of streaming platforms, and they give viewers more control and a more enriching experience with the content they enjoy. 


Secondary Content in Streaming

The digital foundation of video streaming platforms has presented an unprecedented opportunity to deliver viewers secondary content to enhance their watch experience. Secondary content is described as information about a show or movie, its story, production, actors, etc. Historically this sort of content was found in Bonus Features discs and in print media analysis of TV programming. However, given that there are an increasing number centralized databases of entertainment information (like IMDb), and most editorial media content is published online - integration is easier than ever. 

Bentley and Murray conducted another study in 2016 that looked specifically at how people who use streaming platforms interact with secondary content before, during, and after watching - and used their findings to develop best practices for surfacing secondary content. There findings revealed that secondary content was most often accessed after viewing a TV show, followed by before viewing, and just 20% while the show was on. They go on to highlight that this finding demonstrates “a need for a deeper focus on systems that help prepare viewers for an episode or help them deconstruct and share afterwards” (Bentley and Murray, 2016).

Several video streaming platforms have already implemented features that supplement the before and after periods of streaming a video. HBO Now includes short contextual clips like previews and previous episode recaps within the watchpage under the “Extras” header. They also list out the full cast and crew of content on the lower part of the watchpage. For major series, HBO launches microsites like gameofthrones.com as other points of engagement. These sites also give users a chance to chat with other fans of the programming and find out more about the show. 

Netflix is particularly strong at providing a slight editorial touch to how they show users content. Whenever one of their original programs wins an award (e.g. Emmy, Oscar) it is tagged and promoted at the top of the homepage with a description of what it won. Amazon, which owns IMDb, incorporates secondary content into their pause screen. When users pause a video, contextual information like what actors are in the scene appear around the video.

While there is something sentimental about the movie theater experience or tuning into the live broadcast of a TV show through cable, the format cannot offer the level of detail that streaming platforms can via secondary content. In some ways, a comparison of the two relates to the concept of being beyond being there, laid out by John Hollan and Scott Stornetta in their 1992 publication Beyond being there. In that work, the authors explain that technologies that attempt to help people communicate over distance should not try to recreate in-person interactions, but instead create a better experience than in-person (Stornetta and Hollan, 1992). Video streaming platforms uphold the essence of this principle in regard to the traditional viewing experience of TV and especially movies. 

Netflix and Hulu recognize that the the in-home experience will never compare to the sonic and visual spectacle of a movie theater, so instead of trying to simulate that, they introduce a less jarring but more informed watch experience by way of secondary content that is practically a part of the programming. This could also be applied to earlier point about releasing a TV series all at once as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon do. The weekly release cycle allows for a more methodical development of the narrative, but a whole series at once is a more robust presentation of that narrative.


Conclusion

The shakeup that video streaming platforms have caused has reached throughout the entertainment industry and across the full range of audience types. The personalized and engaging features that this shift has brought about have had a positive impact on users. And at their current rate of growth, streaming platforms appear as though they will define the next wave of TV and film consumption and creation. Despite industry traditionalists who might suggest that this new medium hinders creators and is bad for audiences, the evidence appears to say otherwise. As audiences have increasing control over how they watch and can better define their preferences, they can be better paired with content that they will enjoy. Further, creatives can leverage the flexible nature and direct-to-consumer reach of video streaming platforms to expand their content into new markets and audiences. Perhaps, video streaming platforms could even be the catalyst for returning to an age of film that Susan Sontag longed for.


Works Cited

  • Dimph de Feijter, Vassilis-Javed Khan, and Marnix van Gisbergen. 2016. Confessions of A 'Guilty' Couch Potato Understanding and Using Context to Optimize Binge-watching Behavior. In Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Experiences for TV and Online Video (TVX '16). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 59-67. DOI: https://doi-org.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/10.1145/2932206.2932216

  • Feldman, Dana. “Netflix Remains Ahead Of Amazon And Hulu With 128M Viewers Expected This Year.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 13 Apr. 2017, www.forbes.com/sites/danafeldman/2017/04/13/netflix-remains-ahead-of-amazon-and-hulu-with-128m-viewers-expected-this-year/#68648ad6216c.

  • Fogg, BJ. (2002). Persuasive technology: using computers to change what we think and do. Ubiquity 2002. (Chapter 5)Preview the document

  • Frank Bentley and Janet Murray. 2016. Understanding Video Rewatching Experiences. In Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Experiences for TV and Online Video (TVX '16). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 69-75. DOI: https://doi-org.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/10.1145/2932206.2932213

  • Frank Bentley and Janet Murray. 2016. Understanding Secondary Content Practices for Television Viewing. In Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Experiences for TV and Online Video (TVX '16). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 69-75. DOI: https://doi-org.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/10.1145/2932206.2932213

  • Hollan, J, and S Stornetta. 1992. Beyond being there. In Proceedings of ACM CHI '92 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York: ACM Press.

  • Jacob M. Rigby, Duncan P. Brumby, Anna L. Cox, and Sandy J.J. Gould. 2018. Old Habits Die Hard: A Diary Study of On-Demand Video Viewing. In Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '18). ACM, New York, NY, USA, Paper LBW016, 6 pages. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3188665

  • Monaghan, Erin. “Television Through the Decades and the Ways It Changed Our World.” TopTenReviews, Purch Media, www.toptenreviews.com/electronics/articles/television-through-the-decades-and-the-ways-it-changed-our-world/.

  • Rainie, Lee. “About 6 in 10 Young Adults in U.S. Primarily Use Online Streaming to Watch TV.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 13 Sept. 2017, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/09/13/about-6-in-10-young-adults-in-u-s-primarily-use-online-streaming-to-watch-tv/.

  • Sontag, Susan. “The Decay of Cinema .” The New York Times, The New York Times, 25 Feb. 1996, archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/00/03/12/specials/sontag-cinema.html.

  • Spangler, Todd. “Netflix Bandwidth Usage Climbs to Nearly 37% of Internet Traffic at Peak Hours.” Variety, Variety, 28 May 2015, variety.com/2015/digital/news/netflix-bandwidth-usage-internet-traffic-1201507187/.