For this week’s blogging assignment, I became a curator.
Each day, I visited a variety of media outlets in order to put together a list of the week’s best stories about streaming TV. On one hand, I’m lucky that I chose a topic that gets a lot of coverage. It wasn’t hard to find interesting stories. On the other hand, it was hard to narrow this list down to just six items.
After that, I spent time reflecting on my media use this week. Working on this assignment disrupted some of my usual habits.
This Week in Streaming
Quibi: Watch All the Trailers From the New Streaming Service
On Monday, I discovered that Indiewire has started to compile a brief guide to all of the new shows that will be available on Quibi when it launches in April. As it is updated whenever a new trailer is released, I think it would be smart for fans of television to bookmark this link.
Streaming TV Usage Nearly Doubles in Less Than 2 Years, Nielsen Says
On Tuesday, The Hollywood Reporter published a story with fascinating new data from Nielsen about the use of streaming services in the US.
“The ratings service’s latest total audience report takes a deep dive into the streaming ecosystem, revealing that the majority of TV consumers pay for more than one SVOD service, that streaming usage in OTT-capable households has nearly doubled in less than two years and that there is a virtually endless supply of content available to those users.”
Pilot Season Slows Down as Broadcast Networks Rethink Strategy in Streaming Era
On Wednesday, Variety covered how this year’s broadcast pilot season looks different than it has in years past thanks to the rise of streamers. Streaming’s impact on the broadcast networks most often comes up when discussing the decline in live ratings, but it’s impacting the production calendar as well.
Why NBC Blanketed the Internet with Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist
On Thursday, Vulture looked at how NBC has attempted to harness the power of streaming to find an audience for its new musical drama, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.
“NBC has used the long gap between installments of the Jane Levy–led series to make it ubiquitous, striking deals to place the show’s first episode on a slew of large digital platforms like YouTube, Hulu, Facebook, and Spotify, while also embedding the hour in ads the network took out on sites such as Playbill, Bustle, and yes, Vulture.”
While many network shows have seen an increase in viewers between seasons thanks to the ability to catch up via streaming, using this approach to grow an audience between airings of the first and second episodes is much more unique.
Roku Tops Wall Street’s Q4 Estimates, Growing to Nearly 37 Million Active Accounts
Also on Thursday, Deadline reported on Roku’s impressive fourth quarter numbers. As more and more streaming services roll out, Roku is well-positioned to be one of the biggest beneficiaries.
Canada Wants Streamers to Start Paying More Taxes
Finally, on Friday, The Hollywood Reporter covered calls for streaming services to start paying more in taxes and to do more to subsidize local content in Canada. The US-based streamers do quite a bit of filming in Canada and aren’t currently subject to the same regulations as local broadcasters.
My Media Use
As I noted in the original 24-hour media use assignment, I tend to sit down and read the news over breakfast in the morning and at some point in the evening. This week looked a bit different. Eager to find interesting articles for the curation assignment, I found myself visiting entertainment-focused media outlets throughout the day. Funnily enough, it actually helped to curb my social media use. Rather than scrolling through Twitter on my phone when bored, I scrolled through sites like Entertainment Weekly.
When it comes to the sources I turn to for news, this assignment also led to some temporary changes. On a typical day, I seek out a good mix of coverage of current events, pop culture, technology, and sports. NPR, The New York Times, and The Athletic are sites I visit daily. This week, those outlets took a backseat to sites like Vulture and The Hollywood Reporter as I honed in on coverage of streaming services. Typically, I only visit a site like Vulture once or twice a week. For the past few days, I’ve been visiting once or twice a day.
While this class hasn’t led me to give up on any sources that I regularly use, I have started to make a mental note of any disclosures I encounter while reading. I can see why it’s important to consider how financial stakes or personal ties could be influencing coverage and to be cognizant of potential conflicts going forward. For example, I learned that Vox, The Verge, and Wired have ties to some of the streaming services while working on previous blogging assignments. Now, when I visit those sites for coverage of the topic, I know to pay closer attention.
Overall, while I’ve enjoyed poring over streaming related content, I’m looking forward to returning to a balanced media diet. I feel under-informed about more important stories like the Democratic primaries or turmoil at the Justice Department.
