In relation to the media area you have studied, discuss the ways audience consumption has changed over time.
Audience consumption has changed immensely over time. Technology is always evolving and changing the world which includes media. Audiences went from physically having to go to movie theaters to being able to find it on their computer right at home.
Audiences started out watching short films that would hardly be considered movies nowadays in the late 1800s. The invention of the kinetograph by Thomas Edison showed short film sequences that audiences could view in a variety of places such as hotel lobbies, amusement parks, and penny arcades for 25 cents. With the invention of the Cinématographe though, audiences moved to theaters to watch these longer films. The first commercial screening was Rue des Capucines shown with the Cinématographe in Paris. In the early 1900s poorer audiences moved to store fronts to pay the low price of 5 cents to watch nickelodeons. Movies were losing popularity as radio became more popular for consumers. The use of pans, tilts, and other angles was not as exciting as hearing people talk. This forced movies to evolve and include sound which brought audiences back to theaters in the late 1920s. Throughout the 1930s-1940s Americans were watching movies in theaters more than ever. This ended in the 50s when people could now watch movies in their home on their TVs. Then in the 60s movies such as A Space Odyssey (1968) appealed to the younger demographic and caused them to become avid consumers of movies. The age before smart phones and computers gained control of how audiences consumed movies still had many changes going from outside of hotels to inside people's homes.
The age of streaming services is a drastic change from VCR and theaters. Before streaming services and after VCR was Blockbuster. The company started in the mid 1980s and peaked in the 90s and early 2000s. The rental company was the main way audiences were consuming movies that had already left theaters. Blockbuster was widely popular but started going downhill as it made changes which ended in Blockbuster filing for bankruptcy in 2010. While Blockbuster was in the midst of a great fall Netflix was rising in popularity. Netflix was now the main way to watch movies and was completely online. In 2007 Netflix started its streaming services and in 2008 abandoned DVDs. This changed the way audiences consumed media massively. Around the time Netflix switched to streaming, platforms like Hulu and YouTube were just starting out. Hulu is also another popular streaming service that is a competitor to Netflix. YouTube is not really seen as a competitor in streaming because it is mainly a platform to upload and watch videos and not movies. In late 2019 a new streaming service Disney+ was created that is a big competitor of Netflix despite it only recently being created. Audiences used to be able to watch some Disney content on Netflix, but it has all been taken away and put onto Disney’s streaming service. As recently Netflix has cancelled popular shows and come out with what some consider bad original content people are considering moving to other services like Hulu and Disney+. The age of streaming is still not over but it is still evolving to keep audience’s attention and subscriptions.
There are many benefits and downsides to how media has been consumed over the years. Movies were viewed in theaters which was nice in the way audiences could go and hang out with their friends and people who were also interested in the movie. It had its downsides because after the movie was finished in theaters in the early days there was no way to watch it again. Also, audiences had to go all the way to the movie theater and spend more money if they wanted to rewatch a movie they liked. As consuming media evolved these problems were fixed. Rental services like Blockbuster allowed people to rent movies even if they were no longer in theaters. The problem with these services were the late fees that would pile up if you did not return the movie on time. As online streaming grew this was no longer a problem because you did not have to physically return it. Now with streaming audiences could watch movies anywhere and how many times they wanted for how long they wanted. The downside of streaming is if the internet in an area is bad the movies will play in bad quality or not at all. The benefits far outweigh the downsides in my opinion as watching movies has become faster and easier than ever before.
Audience’s consumption has changed in many ways, but it is needed to keep the interest in movies alive. Movie makers are constantly looking for ways to woo the audience and hold their attention captive. This pushes for innovation in how people watch movies and continue to watch them. Services will constantly try to push forward and create better methods for audiences to consume media.
