I’m officially “conferenced” out. Last week, I attended the Austin Film Festival (there was a TV presence among the panels), and the week before that I was at the Flow Conference at the University of Texas, where TV scholars gathered to commiserate. It was all very interesting and useful, but back-to-back conferences left little time for reflection. I’m still sorting through my notes and figuring out what I took away. (You can read my blogs on the AFF panels I attended at austinchronicle.com/pip.)
Throughout both conferences, I was taken back to the comment Barry Sonnenfeld made at this year’s Emmy Awards: “Fear the Internet, and love TV.” I have no idea what Sonnenfeld meant, but on face value, it seems to echo what became blazingly clear at both conferences: Like it or not, the TV viewing experience – or rather, the consumption of content for the small screen – is changing.
The current strange brew of TV and the Internet, creative content and commercial gain, has created a great deal of anxiety from the old guard on one end of the spectrum and a great sense of anticipation by creatives on the other. The fear seems to be fueled by the need for commercials with a lot of attention paid to product placement and how DVR viewing is threatening the core reason that TV exists – which is apparently to make money. Now I’m not against making money, and I realize there has to be a way for creators to make content without going into debt, but in order to survive the coming change, the old guard has to rethink how it does business.
Interestingly, I think the answer lies in the past. Yes, I gleefully fast-forward past commercials on my DVR but tolerate them when watching the same show on my computer. Why? First, I have no choice, but more importantly, because they are brief, often stylish presentations that are not as concerned with interrupting with a sales pitch as they are with announcing the sponsorship of the program – as in the early days of TV. As a viewer, I don’t care about the product, but I do notice when a sponsor makes it possible for me to enjoy my favorite program in peace.
As for the “DVR problem,” this “issue” makes me crazy. It’s the same whiny complaint broadcast TV levels against cable TV from time to time: They have more freedom; we have too many restrictions; wah wah wah. The limitations should inspire creativity, and by this I don’t mean clever product placement. The appearance of a product in the normal course of events in an episode doesn’t offend me. Pretending like it’s an important part of the episode does. I don’t need to see the Burger King or Ronald McDonald in a supporting role. Unless you’re Tina Fey and can devilishly parody product placement (as in 30 Rock), my tolerance for the hard sell is very, very low. This is the reason I believe interactive TV has not taken off the way it was first conceived. One of the early ideas behind interactive TV was that you could find out where a character got her hair cut or find a dealer for the cool car that she was driving. No, I don’t watch TV because I want to go shopping. I watch TV to watch TV. Ditto with watching content online.
Referencing this battle between commercials and product placement and monetizing vs. creatives and content creators, a participant at the Flow Conference asked, “Who do you think will win?” My response was that I hope the viewer wins. The viewers, after all, are the whole reason behind all this consternation, aren’t they? Everyone wants the eyes. So I was giddy once again when screenwriter Todd Berger (Kung Fu Panda and the creator behind online parody The Googling) stated at one of the few online-specific panels at AFF that prototypes are currently being designed to not only allow viewers to gather content but to exploit whatever media hardware is at hand – making the media viewing/listening experience totally mobile and user-friendly. When will this wonderful technology occur? Speculating is always a dangerous game, but it seems to me that when the technology catches up with the need and the obvious desire, and barring any concerted efforts by those who would prefer to keep doing business as usual, the change could occur in my lifetime. I don’t think TV as we know it will ever completely go away, but if there were ever a case, and a time, to start thinking outside of that familiar box, I think that it’s now.
As always, stay tuned.
This article appears in October 24 • 2008.