The Trends of IPTV Cannot be Denied

Take a moment to consider the amount of programming that you consume on a weekly basis. If you’re anything like the average American, a healthy portion of your time is spent consuming media in the form of television shows and movies.

On average, Americans spend almost six hours watching television every single day; however, this investment of time is starting to mutate in an interesting way. For decades, we have measured how much “television” a person watches by the literal amount of time that they spent in front of a television set. As we all know, however, it is becoming more and more common to watch “television” without ever interacting with a television set.

Internet Protocol Television, IPTV for short, over the last decade, has had a major impact on the way that we consume media. In today’s post, we are going to take a look at the ways that IPTV is changing the way that we watch “television” and what the impacts of these changes could mean for future generations of media consumers. Continue reading below to learn more.

changes ahead

The Era of The Binge is Upon Us

Television has, for all intents and purposes, stuck to the same format since its inception. Networks own channels, produce content, and provide that content to consumers for a fee.

On top of this fee, the networks also sell advertising space to thousands of businesses a year, effectively making free money off of their captured audience. To make sure that the advertisers were reaching a large audience on a consistent basis, the networks realized that they needed people to watch their channel every single day so that advertisers would find their channel more appealing than other rival channels.

While this model of business has been around for at least a century (thanks radio), it is starting to run into some issues thanks to IPTV. For decades, people would tune in weekly to keep up with their favorite television shows. This almost ritualistic approach to media consumption ensured not only that people were watching a network’s channel, but simultaneously assured advertisers that they would have a consistent audience to advertise to.

However, what happens if advertising is suddenly taken out of the equation? Luckily, Netflix answered this question for everyone.

Netflix offers streaming video services for thousands of shows and movies without forcing subscribers to view any form of third party advertising. While early detractors were skeptical that Netflix would succeed, over the past decade, Netflix has come to be a major player in the world of both content distribution and original content production.

Accomplishing this was no easy feat, especially considering Netflix did it without the aid of advertising money, and, very quickly, Netflix became a household name. However, while Netflix has certainly filled a void in the entertainment industry that needed to be filled, it has also changed the way that people view content.

With the time barrier completely eradicated, dedicated consumers were suddenly able to watch entire seasons of their favorite shows in just a few days. No longer were people forced to wait months to find out the resolution to a season; suddenly, they were able to find out the next day. While most people talk fondly of a nice “Netflix binge” we here at Setplex have to wonder what the ramifications of this newfound way to consume media will have.

IPTV Has Ushered in a New Era of Consumption

Given the ability to view every episode of a show as soon as it airs, what do you think people will do? Do you think they will space out their viewings so that it takes a while to watch the entire season or do you think that they will watch the show as fast as possible to learn what happens next?

If you guessed the second scenario, you would be correct. In a study conducted by Netflix, it was found that the average Netflix viewer chooses to binge watch their way through television shows in about a week. While this might seem pretty normal (and when you think about human nature, it is), eventually this will have an interesting effect on television programming, especially those programs released exclusively on IPTV content providers.

With a show no longer governed by the constraints of a weekly broadcast schedule, how will writers and directors adjust their storytelling techniques? With the old system, a cliffhanger in the middle of the season was an effective tool to make sure that viewers came back to see what happened. However, when a consumer has the ability to instantly watch the next episode, is that tried and true trope still effective?

While only time will tell, one thing is certain; IPTV has changed the way we consume “television” and the ramifications of this change are only just beginning.

If you would like to learn more about IPTV, or the services that we provide at Setplex, please visit our website today. We are dedicated to providing the finest IPTV solutions available, and we are confident that we can come up with a solution to fit your needs, no matter what they may be. Whether you need an IPTV set top box, are interested in learning more about our software, or want to become a content provider, we have the knowledge, tools, and experience needed to help you. Contact us today and let’s get started.


Setplex IPTV and OTTInterested in our IPTV and OTT services? Learn more about NORA and Setplex

Categories: OTT Business

Lana Moiseenko

Lana is the Digital Marketing Strategist at Setplex who develops comprehensive marketing strategies for B2B and B2C companies. She is a skilled SEO/SEM and Marketing professional helping businesses with SEO and digital transformation.

1 Comment

LulaX · September 6, 2017 at 3:02 pm

I have noticed that your page needs some fresh posts.

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