With the recent public launch of Hulu a couple of weeks ago I started to think about what effects Internet TV will have on our culture and our lives. People are slowly relinquishing their television sets as their primary way of watching network content. Online video and Internet TV sites are giving people a venue through which to be social, communicate and interact about what they're watching in different way.

Sites such as Hulu, Brightcove, YouTube, and Break allow users to rate each show/video, ask questions, and encourage social interaction. All of these sites allow the audience to share their videos with friends in many different ways (embedding video, email, IM, etc). But if the way by which we interact about television shows is changing, I wondered what will happen to the water cooler?

A Water Cooler Culture

The video above is HBO's take on their contribution to Water Cooler conversation. For anyone not familiar with the water cooler effect or water cooler shows they are generally shows that are discussed around 'the water cooler' in an office (for more on water cooler shows see this and this).

It seems that one reason why water cooler shows are so successful is that they are/were distributed primarily through broadcast media at a scheduled time. So anyone who showed up on a Friday morning to fill up their water bottle or cup would have a limited number of shows to talk about (whatever aired Thursday night). This kind of interaction allows shows to develop a following that I would argue in many cases, is based on the desire of people to fit in... For example, if your co-workers are watching Lost on Thursday night and talking about it on Friday morning...you want to be included in that conversation.

Forget next week, I'll catch up tonight.

Along comes the beginnings³³ of Internet TV in mid-2006 with the launch of ABC's Full Episode Player³³. A place where the person who missed that television show everyone is talking about at the water cooler can catch up and by catching feel like a part of the crowd. This becomes extremely successful.

A New Audience.

Now in 2008 we see many networks releasing their content online via sites like Hulu. It is becoming quickly apparent to me that owning a television set will no longer be necessary in order to view broadcast content. The on-demand nature of Internet TV allows users to watch shows anytime they want, not when the network feels like airing them. Because the audience is no longer on the network schedule sites like Hulu are exposing people to new shows that they have never seen or heard of before.

The New Water Cooler

If you're watching shows that you haven't watched before or shows that you haven't heard of before (shows not endorsed by the water cooler you frequent) what kind of social interaction do you engage in, how do you discuss whats going to happen in the next episode, or why your favorite character did what they did...? Instead of using the water cooler as a place where the popularity of shows increase, Internet TV uses methods such as comment boards to encourage conversation, and email and embedding to encourage the audience to publicize their favorite show and in many ways stand in as a new kind of water cooler.

We could have expected this.

It turns out that Television transitions quite nicely on to the Internet. And shouldn't we have expected this? In reality this is the counter-bricolage³³ necessary for broadcast media to stay afloat. If people are downloading content to watch online at any time anyways, why not allow them to do that same thing in a legal way with 75% less advertising³³ than what they might see on TV while still managing make a lot of money off them?

Future: The Digital Water Cooler

While I'm not entirely convinced that the television set is dead yet, I think for generations like GenY³³ who embrace multitasking the new water cooler will be a digital one. It is possible that you could be sitting in your living room alone watching Lost, but also be surfing the web, talking to your friends about what will happen after the commercial break. Maybe ABC directs you to a URL that will take a polling of the audience as to what they think will happen next and in J.J.Abrams style dynamically pick choice that no one selected as their prediction to continue the plot of the episode. I should also mention that Google already has a patent on a technology that will listen to the ambient audio in the room from the TV and return web content that is based on that for a 'richer entertainment experience'.³³ This would allow Google to possibly advertise for other shows which are of a similar theme or genre that you might be interested in.

Whatever way TV and Internet TV go, it will definitely continue to be a much richer, more meaningful and deeper experience as technological advancements allow companies to push their content further into the future.3

1. Michael Learmonth (2008-03-21). ABC: Give Us Credit For Our Digital Strategy. Sillicon Alley Insider. Retrieved on 2008-03-25.333
2. Mike Davidson (2006-05-01). ABC Full Episode Streaming Live...and it's Spectacular. Mike Industries. Retrieved on 2008-03-25.333
3. http://ccit300-f06.wikispaces.com/Subculture333
4. Kim Hart and Mike Musgrove (2008-03-12) Hollywood Test Tolerance For Ads With Online Video. Washington Post. Retrieved on 2008-03-25.333
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Y333
6. Jacqui Cheng (2007-07-15). Google patent envisions using ambient audio from TV for searches, ads. Ars Technica. Retrieved on 2008-03-25.333

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