After Emmys: Are Web Series a New Threat to Primetime TV?

Back when I was a youngster, "TV series" (then on only three networks) meant a full run of originals from September to June, often 39 in number. Now we get little more than half of that -- or act grateful when a series like Mad Men returns, once a year, with an explosion of about a dozen new episodes. And the latest: NBC airs Leno every night in primetime to cut costs further. Plus, the total commercial time is more than twice the old standards.

True, the general quality of TV programs (especially when you factor in HBO, Showtime, etc.) is no doubt higher. Still, one wonders how much longer until Web series, which also have limited runs, but without commercials, start of supplant TV series -- if the online shows continue to improve, add star and creative power, and expand by leaps and bounds.

It's now easy to find real stars in these series, with people like Will Farrell, Matt Damon, Judd Apatow, Ashton Kutcher, Rosario Dawson, Zac Efron, Michael Cera, Candace Bushnell, and so on, appearing in, or even creating, their own programming. The NBC series "Heroes" has an extensive second life on the Web, with separate plot lines and characters that cross over from TV to online and back again. Felicia Day recently scored a breakthrough deal for her Web series "The Guild" to get national Xbox distribution. Directors Bryan Singer and Ridley Scott are reportedly working on or backing sci-fi series.

The New York Times yesterday even featured for the first time, in its fall Arts preview, a wrapup on what is coming from Web series.

Still, a lot of Web series sites have fallen by the wayside as advertising for many has not yet come through (sound familiar?). But as the Times preview notes, "while small companies that hoped to specialize in Web video are forced out of business by a lack of advertising, other producers enter the field because it's cheaper than making television."

I've developed a real interest in this genre (especially since I hate primetime TV commercials) partly because my son, Andy Mitchell, a recent film school graduate, has his own major series, from Koldcast TV, coming out in October. It's titled "MacAwesome" and already gained important notice based on its promos, music video and this teaser.

FutureScape released a reported on the Web series landscape earlier this month which concluded:

--More stars are launching Internet TV shows, often funded by major sponsors --Sound business models and commercial opportunities are emerging

--Web shows will break out across the entertainment sector as a whole

The future is uncertain, but as the constant nervous quips in last night's Emmy broadcast showed, there is much for TV to worry about, including the explosion of star-studded Web series. On the comedy side, you might say that primetime TV will have to be "funny or die."

Greg Mitchell is editor of Editor & Publisher and his latest book is "Why Obama Won."

 

 

Follow Greg Mitchell on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GregMitch

Comments

[Absinthe Verte]

It has been coming for a long time. Broadcast TV is getting worse by the year. Cheap to produce reality shows, more commercials etc. are becoming the norm. And who pays the price, the viewers. It is no surprise more and more viewers are turning to cable and internet TV for quality and variety content

http://www.canwatchtvonline.com/

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/rodr0069/myblog/2009/09/why-you-should-be-worried-about-internet-tv.html

[sal z]

Is this recycled from 2006?

We've all (those in old tv and internet tv) been dealing with this for the past four+ years. The reality is that a very small handful, perhaps a mere half dozen, online Series per year are economically viable at this point in time. Provided they have name talent, otherwise, forget about it.

That is hardly a recipe for shutting down broadcast and cable. No one is quaking in their boots over this. Really, they aren't. The "epochal shift" predictions resurface every year to fewer ears.

Yes, "real" television continues to wither in terms of quality, which it has been doing since the Writer's Guild strike in the 90's and the emergence of Reality TV, but, that has nothing to do with internet tv. Th

But, "real people" ((the Big Numbers that Advertisers try to reach) do not consume Episodic content online. They have BIG SCREEN TV's, they have DVRs and they have couches. They don't want no stinkin' internet tv. They don't. And, advertisers know it.

Internet Television is a niche phenomenon and will never be a threat to "old tv."

Sorry. But, really, this article has existed many times over, with nearly identical enthusiasm, for the past few years and that doesn't mean it's any more true today than it has been. I'm sure we'll read it again, and again, as the Year's go by...

[Marti Resteghini]

With the top Hollywood studios in talks with YouTube about streaming their content and Hulu gaining a significant portion of viewers for current network programming, I beg to differ. It won't happen overnight but there has been a definite shift and the internet, as a whole, has caused it.

It's not the web programming will kill television but "television" will be re-defined. When will this happen? When our cable providers get in bed with DSL providers. With Verizon and Comcast already there....its just a matter of time.

[SinglePerf]

... and "television" will never be a threat to radio nor will "cable television" be a threat to the "big three" networks.

As you write the above , Hulu is formulating a subscription format, XBox 360 and Roku (Netflix Player) already have some (albeit not many) episodic web series available to stream to their "BIG SCREEN TV's". Most are available in HD, as well.

"Angel of Death" was such a flop (10 x 7 min eps which had an average of 1 million views each ep) which Spike bought it, aired as a two hour movie, and the series was then released on DVD. True, that was a million dollar Web Series produced and distributed by Sony Crackle.comm is owned by Sony), but the market is clearly there and has huge potential.

Much of the problem is the content is dispersed illogically throughout the Internet.

The success of any show, whether it be TV, Cable, or Internet) all depends on content, creativity, originality, target audience and A&R. Word of mouth works well.

Dean Devlin's expensive, sci-fi-ish thriller web series with Eric Stoltz...flop. Felicia Day's low-budget, dorkdom, gamer world "The Guild" where the fourth wall is constantly broken...season three. The reason one works and the other doesn't? See above.

True, it is doubtful that for a very long time will web series compete with TV, but the market is there and it can/will be profitable when done right.

[Nando Pereira]

Lots of possibilities here (always), from actors deals with studios to high quality series, but it's all open and new. The threat is against bad (and/or what ppl don't like).