Television has changed. When I was growing up, the family watched TV together in the evening because there was often one TV in the home. Then cable emerged and everyone had a TV in their room. Now kids growing up don’t need a TV box to watch; they can access everything they want on their computer screen, and the source is often user gererated content on YouTube or broadcast content on Hulu.
The past several weeks I’ve been working with Attention Span Media, a social media production studio whose credits include the mega online hit TV series, Dorm Life.
Dorm Life hilariously chronicles the experiences of ten college students residing on “5 South,” a dorm floor on a fictional campus. It’s the most popular web TV series on Hulu with 6+ million views and often called…NBC’s “The Office” goes to college.
Attention Span Media is one example of a small, indy studio producing content that rivals the big ones and reaches mass audiences via a savvy social networking model. In a recent California Chronicle article that my firm placed, Dorm Life was called “a taste of whats to come.” I agree.
Dorm Life is a great Long Tail example of a niche audience (college and high school students) growing so large that the show could easily migrate its audience to another platform; Dorm Life could find a home on traditional broadcast or cable TV and also monetize itself through sales and branded merchandise (shirts) and DVDs.
On the other side of the spectrum — the big box TV — AMG TV has just announced the first 3-D network, and their plans to deliver 3-D content to some 200 terrestrial station affiliates. That makes sense. I’m thinking the big box HD TV in the living room will never go away. The big screen at home will be used for big events like sports and 3D while the rest of us will continue to view our niche content on hand-held devices and computers. And don’t be surprised when your local TV stations go out of business or consolidate as a result … because viewership is shifting online. And advertisers will go where the audiences are.
Witness the recent demise of several of the most successful print newspapers in the world. I wrote about the publishing industry in transition last year. TV is also in a major transition. Watch for exciting new shows from Attention Span Media. And stay tuned!
Third Eye 