With so many web soaps in production, I wonder are they a harbinger of the future, a natural progression or just a fad, and a fun way for actors to show their creativity? I doubt this blog will help me decide where my feelings lay on this topic, but I wanted to get them out into the universe.
Reasons for them being the future:
1. The amount of people watching programming on the Internet is increasing. Original web content should grow too. Just like how when more people got televisions in their homes, the amount of programming hours went up, and once cable/satellite came into existence, the amount of channels also increased.
a. There have been some examples of format migration. In the music industry, once upon a time records were popular, CDs then became in vogue, which led into the digital age of MP3 purchases. Of course, for every change in format, there is a chance for it to not work, like laser disc players that pre-dated DVDs or the short-lived 8-track tape, which one only can find now used. Over fifty years ago, radio was the way people experienced soaps, until the programs were either canceled or moved to television. So it is possible that they will again migrate to another media this time being the Internet.
2. On-line programming can narrowcast to a specific audience that isn't possible in any other format. The most people possible or within a certain demographic that is pleasing to advertisers is what works in television. With the Internet, that may not necessarily be the case. While a DVR may be able to track what one watches and/replays, the technology isn't at the point of being able to market specifically based on programming choices. For example, online one can read a message board post about American Idol and then get product offers of MP3s from artists, who appeared on that program.
3. The daytime soaps of today seem to not be sustainable. Budgets have been slashed, and even with lowered costs they can’t compete with other genres on a financial level. If a show costs more to air and/or produce, and doesn’t bring in more profit, which program will the accountants choose. With networks wanting to please the shareholders, more than a shrinking (and even worse aging) audience, they make these kinds of decisions. This isn’t to say I approve the idea that television should only have the cheapest programming possible regardless of quality; just that it feels like the broadcast medium is going in that direction outside of sports where they can get a high advertising rate.
Reasons for them being a fad:
1. While more people watch television on-line now, many people still do not. According to Nielsen, shows that the average television viewer watches more than 151 hours of TV per month – an all-time high. Meanwhile Americans who watch video over the Internet consume another 3 hours of monthly online video and those who use mobile video watch nearly 4 hours per month on mobile phones and other devices. This number may go up in a few years, and the web soaps of today may just be “experimental”. For more on the Nielsen numbers from earlier this year, click below from CNN/Nielsen from February. Report from Nielsen and article from CNN.
2. Money as at this point they aren't profitable. People can't make a living on free productions. Once there is a model in place to at least re-coup the production costs (whether from fans or advertisements), how many will put forth the time and effort to make a web soap?
3. The quality issue: anyone with the technological capability can make content for the web. So even if one can, it doesn’t mean one should. Cameras are getting better, but the quality of the acting, directing, producing, and writing may be questionable. These early web soaps have people attached who have been involved in the daytime industry, so there is a good chance they won’t be tragic, but whose to say they will be magic.
It will be interesting to see in the coming months and years if web programming and specifically web soaps will become grow in popularity or be a proverbial flash in the pan. Hopefully the ones that are quality productions will succeed and those that are not will fade into obscurity.
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