Will the Internet Kill Television - Essay Example

?Will the Internet Kill Television? Introduction In the periphery of mass communication media, the Internet has emerged as one of the leading and preferred sources for global population. The Internet has broadened the reach of global audiences to such an extent that various facts and knowledge of the entire world have transcended to only “a click of the mouse.” A majority of the researches have observed that the Internet is used for an enormous diversity of aspects including the establishment of broad communication media with friends as well as families, acquiring information as much as requisite on any topic, entertainment, e-commerce along with finding any knowledge about any kind of aspects as per requirements. With reference to the findings of the United States (U.S.) Broadband Policy and Competitiveness (BPC), it is determined that the proportion of US households with computer was merely 8.2% in 1984, which increased enormously from the very beginning of the 21st century and it now stands at 90%, at the end of 2012, of those who possess computer with broadband connection (“U.S. Broadband Policy and Competitiveness”). One of the leading US associations, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), stated that 49% of US households are delicately assuming the use of console through playing various computer games and it is not only affecting the teenagers but also the other varied age groups. Contextually, it also needs to be highlighted that the Internet is not only influencing the use of television simultaneously – it is becoming a great challenge for other mass communication media, i.e., newspaper, journal and books, to cope with the ever-increasing reach of the Internet (“Who is Playing”). Thesis Statement The paper intends to shed light on various factors regarding how the continuous increase in the use of computer as well as the Internet has vastly affected the habits of watching television. This is not only a concerning issue for the US but also has posed a great challenge to the other communication media throughout the world, especially in developed and developing countries. Through the enormous effort of the World Wide Web (WWW) and with the emergence of a number of technological marvels created by a few software developers, it has resulted in significant changes in terms of the process of traditional TV viewership by providing various interesting ways of spending leisure time. Question 1 With regard to the first question in terms of the decreasing amount of viewership of TV by the teenagers and other age groups and enormous development of the Internet usage, various scholars and researchers have worked dedicatedly to find out the actual reason behind it. In relation to this crucial aspect, The New York Daily News (NYDN) provided a statistics of Nielsen’s research report on 19th September, 2012, showing that Americans spend around five hours a day watching TV. However, the report also has shown a significant concerning factor that the teenagers in between the age group of 12-17 are not interested in traditional TV watching. As a result, they are only spending around 3 hours for entertainment purposes among which most of the time they are watching videos via smartphones (“People Watch More Television”). The enormous indulgence in computer and the Internet has not only touched the teenagers but also has shown a significant spread amid various age groups till sixty years. This is because as per the obtained figures, it has come into light that only people belonging to the age group more than sixty spend approximately eight hours a day watching television. On the other hand, as per the report publication of The Telegraph of the United Kingdom, it is quite apparent that the Americans are in the number one position in terms of Internet surfing in the worldwide context (“Americans Spend Most Time on the Internet”). Besides Internet surfing in terms of video game playing, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) provided a report showing that the average age group is 30 in this particular parameter and among them the ratio of male and female is also very interesting, that is 53:47 (“Who Is Playing”). Therefore, taking into consideration that the Internet annihilates TV, a lot of arguments come into the limelight. In this regard, a company named Time Warner, one of the biggest cable service providers stated that the Internet is not going to kill television. It is merely a significant alternative for entertainment and it is specially used for communication and for collecting of information (“Warner Bros.”). Question 2 In this recent time, a lot of notable efforts can be noticed to bring the television programming to the Internet. The term “internet television” has come into the limelight enormously in the first decade of the 21st century. Generally, the objective of this process is to show the television programs over the Internet with the help of video streaming technology. It is becoming quite popular day by day primarily because of lack of time and huge increase of the use of the Internet along with incorporation of digital technologies. Internet television is well accepted by people due to the availability of a huge number of benefits through this process. It needs to be highlighted that the contributions of the software developers and innovative technology designers are the key factor for the success of this process. They have developed a number of software such as BBC iPlayer, RTE Player, STV Player, Demand Five and Hulu in various countries. Among them, Hulu is a well known service provider in the US, which facilitates the viewers in terms of watching any TV shows and movies in leisure time through the Internet. In addition, it also needs to be highlighted that the conversion from traditional TV watching towards using the Internet has turned out to be quite successful owing to the development of smartphone technology. The products of this technology are very easy to carry anywhere and with the aid of high speed Internet service, these devices are enormously becoming successful to leverage the users. This technology has especially caught the imagination of the young generation, thus in turn augmenting the preference level for using the Internet in place of watching television. Question 3 There have been certain notable efforts made to change the advertising process with regard to traditional television and Internet television. Media is one of the key sources of promotion for any type of products and services. Therefore, every company wants to promote their products and services through advertisement in television to communicate with a large number of people globally. However, the biggest challenge with this method is high cost involvement, and it is also required to be repeated time and again to catch the attention of the customer. In the present time, it has also come to focus that the target rating point (TRP) of advertisement through television is going down day by day. Therefore, on a world-wide basis a proper alternative of this method has come to light and various organizations, as a result, have started to select the Internet as a tool for advertising. There are massive advantages in this process of advertising which include low cost, facilitating to determine the right customers, enabling to provide detailed descriptions about the products along with continuously updating facilities. Besides, various social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs have effectively helped to reach the targeted customers and increase the visibility. The most positive aspect with this method is providing right information at the right time to the customers, and undoubtedly this factor aids in increasing the profitability of business. On the other hand, it also needs to be taken into concern that online advertising is not the ultimate solution in the facet of mass communication; it only can touch the educated people and Internet users. Thus, there is a requirement to think over it and submerge creativity with the traditional television advertising as a very important factor to touch the mass audiences globally. In this context, it can be highlighted that the companies can use a marquee method for advertising of the selective programs and channels in order to make efficient use of time to increase the visibility of the product. Question 4 In reference to the last question, the significant stress would be laid upon highlighting the differences which will come into the market in terms of watching television in the upcoming 10 years. In this regard, the experts belonging to CISCO have predicted regarding the transformation of TV-watching experience and highlighted certain interesting features that will emerge in the offerings provided with television in future. Among them, certain attractive factors include the aspect that “channels may go away,” which means that the control will come in the hands of the viewers. As a result, there will be no time bound viewing requirement for the viewer as they will be able to watch anything what they want and when they want, and 100% of TV experts approved this precious prediction. Moreover, the requirement of the TV remote is predicted to go away as customers will use natural language and gestures to interact with television in a similar way as they usually do to interact with the other persons. Nearly 94 percent of industrial TV experts have agreed with this forecast. Furthemore, as per the expert opinions of CISCO, it is stated that screens of television will change and something will come into the market through which a viewer can do anything and anywhere, and it will be thinner, larger and of high quality. Besides, they have also propounded that the advertisement that would be watched on television can be personally decided, which signifies that the viewer can easily ignore or skip different advertisements that they do not like to watch (“10 Predictions”). Conclusion Conclusively, from the overall discussion it is determined that technological innovation and enormous use of the Internet have posed a major challenge towards the traditional television, but it will not kill the television. The reason behind this is that technological development and continuous research have an ongoing process leading to sustained development of television and its allied features which will enable television to sustain the test of time. 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