A Look At TV Right Now

Now as much as I love digesting all forms of media, I also enjoy studying the particular mediums in which they are delivered.  I have always found the mediums to be one of the most intriguing aspects of the story.  As you will see their will be titles which cross almost every medium I cover and examine the differences between, as well as similarities, in each is what I find most fascinating.  Now for a look into the current state of Television

Television since its begging has always been a passive form of media, one that simply involved you sitting in front of a television set at a certain time.  However for many of us television is none of those things anymore.  It has evolved into a media that involves your interacting with it more and more as technology evolves as well.  We no longer need to be in front of the television at a particular time if our show is on, we can simply DVR it, or catch it when they release it On Demand for free.  We can skip through the commercials, or rewind a scene we may have missed.  And when you throw in streaming  such as Netflix and Hulu all of this makes it impossible for the Nielsen Company almost impossible to monitor the true ratings of these shows.  However networks have began to tie television shows into the social media networks.  It is commonplace now to see like us on Facebook after a show, or a particular hashtag in the corner of the scene during a show.  This is because monitoring the social media buzz is the best way to determine how well you are reaching that 18-49 year age group every advertiser aims for.  According to NBC News, the season finale of Breaking Bad accumulated 1.24 million tweets in a 6 hour span.  Social Media and pop culture are tied together, and the television industry is catching on.

The networks are not the only ones who are noticing the social media trend and TV manufactures are pressing the Smart TV’s.  These television sets not only do all of the same features as a normal TV, they also are connected to the internet for ultimate accessibility.  Smart TVs come with applications such as Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, and Internet Explorer.  They also as of late have been adapting voice recognition technology and second screen capabilities with things such as your phone and Ipad for a more interactive experience. Products such as Apple TV allow you to steam whatever is open on any of your apple products, i.e MacBook, iPhone, Ipad, onto your television.  Television is something different to everyone now a days, but to everyone it is more interactive than ever.

Brad Lee