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[Online Content Delivery] Serialized Content Distribution vs. "Content Dumps", and More
Hamurabi
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Registered User regular
So I've been thinking about something recently. Remember that Netflix-clusive drama, House of Cards? Yeah, I do too -- but just barely. Like, I remember thinking it was pretty good, both on a superficial narrative level, but also as an exaggerated funhouse mirror of U.S. politics. Now, though, I'm thinking the reason it doesn't stick out in my mind as sharply is because I watched all (fourteen?) episodes in basically two days. I think if it'd been released like any other content ever -- in weekly installments -- that I'd both remember it more clearly, and that I'd have spent more time in the [House of Cards] thread talking about it.
Which is exactly how I interface with Game of Thrones as an experience. There's a new episode on Sunday. I'll watch the episode, then maybe watch it over again whenever my sister gets around to watching it. After I've kinda let the superficial narrative events of the story settle in my mind -- it's been a long time since I read the books -- I'll go into the [Game of Thrones] thread and talk about it with other nerds. I might get in or start a meta discussion about characters' narrative arcs specifically in that episode; I might agree or differ with someone else's assessment of characters' actions in this week's episode; etc. This cycle will go on for ten weeks.
Whereas I spent at most 3-4 days following the [House of Cards] thread, then lost interest because I was done watching the series.
The point of this thread is to discuss the merits and disadvantages of content dumping as A Thing. Netflix took a big chance releasing all of the first season of House of Cards at once, and it seems to have paid off with the critics... but has anyone looked at what kind of tradeoff they've had to make in terms of buzz and audience engagement? Did they lose "water cooler appeal"; were people more or less likely to talk to others about the show because of the nature of the release, and the attendant spoiler issues?
Personally, I think you lose a lot when you shift to a buffet-style release system. The whole point of releasing something in a serialized format is to work up audience interest and buzz -- a lot of which comes directly from people engaging in meta discussion of where the story might be headed, what kinds of twists might be around the corner, and (in the case of GoT) who's gonna die next week.
So, whaddo you nerds think? Do you feel the same way about other media, like games with DLC or other post-release content (ie. HL2 and its Episodes) ?
Which is exactly how I interface with Game of Thrones as an experience. There's a new episode on Sunday. I'll watch the episode, then maybe watch it over again whenever my sister gets around to watching it. After I've kinda let the superficial narrative events of the story settle in my mind -- it's been a long time since I read the books -- I'll go into the [Game of Thrones] thread and talk about it with other nerds. I might get in or start a meta discussion about characters' narrative arcs specifically in that episode; I might agree or differ with someone else's assessment of characters' actions in this week's episode; etc. This cycle will go on for ten weeks.
Whereas I spent at most 3-4 days following the [House of Cards] thread, then lost interest because I was done watching the series.
The point of this thread is to discuss the merits and disadvantages of content dumping as A Thing. Netflix took a big chance releasing all of the first season of House of Cards at once, and it seems to have paid off with the critics... but has anyone looked at what kind of tradeoff they've had to make in terms of buzz and audience engagement? Did they lose "water cooler appeal"; were people more or less likely to talk to others about the show because of the nature of the release, and the attendant spoiler issues?
Personally, I think you lose a lot when you shift to a buffet-style release system. The whole point of releasing something in a serialized format is to work up audience interest and buzz -- a lot of which comes directly from people engaging in meta discussion of where the story might be headed, what kinds of twists might be around the corner, and (in the case of GoT) who's gonna die next week.
So, whaddo you nerds think? Do you feel the same way about other media, like games with DLC or other post-release content (ie. HL2 and its Episodes) ?
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I am pretty sure I primarily enjoyed Lost when I could watch them every night or at will, and quickly became frustrated with it once I caught up and had to wait a week just to be confused and dragged along some more each time. Heroes on the other hand was great, at leastg the first season, but a lot of what I like about it was the build-up and ceremony of watching, and I bet that if I had watched them closer together, I would have more noticed all the shows flaws sooner and been rather meh about it.
at first I liked house of card's model but I'd probably appreciate the series more with time to digest between episodes
granted I could just self impose that time but I'm weak
It's really game-dependent, afaik. Some games rely heavily on RNG, so you could theoretically (and sometimes will) upgrade most of your gear (or get a couple of more substantial upgrades) in a short space of time... and sometimes you'll go for weeks without getting the drop you want. WoW for instance has recently moved to a more grindy model, so if you want to you can take that weekend and to some degree guarantee some kind of upgrade with enough time spent grinding PvP, pick-up raids, etc.
But yeah, I think even in the context of MMOs, that your one big weekly raid with all your buddies is more memorable than those hours you spent grinding levels or pick-up group content -- but that's also an apples-to-oranges comparison because, well, one definitely involves all your buddies and the other may or may not (and probably won't).
with content dumps the mystery is pretty much gone because it's just all there. And there's no point in discussing it unless you've watched the whole thing because otherwise you'll be spoiled or lost.
I prefer the weekend- with-the-boxset when it comes to one long running story like GoT (currently evading season 3) but a story a week thing I will watch as I go. But I also make plenty of exceptions for stuff; I watch Doctor Who every week when it lends itself to the boxset format so well. And then there's animated stuff like Legend of Korra and Adventure Time and MLP that you gotta watch as and when because good luck acquiring full season boxes of those in a timely manner
I think it also makes the viewing experience not as good. As much as you want to see it all at once, I think shows are best watched with at least some breaks to give you time to process and internalize the information.
Watching a season over the course of a few days also makes it feel rushed. Relationships that would feel longer if you watched it week to week feel insubstantial because they get together and break up in the space of a few hours to the viewer.
For something like House of Cards, I think they would have been better off releasing a new episode every 2 days or something. Or release 3 episodes a week or something. Faster then normal TV, but still pace the audience a bit and generate some buzz.
Given where we're having this discussion I think the social aspect of talking about events in the show is also a big deal. I work with somebody who watched House of Cards but we never really could discuss it. While it was fresh for me she hadn't watched it. While she's working her way through the season I've forgotten or don't know where she is in the season.
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I really really liked House of Cards, but I honestly have not felt compelled to revisit it in the way I have with, say, The Office, Parks, or Breaking Bad.
House of Cards was empty calorie entertainment. i don't imagine any water cooler talk about it aside wow that kevin spacey is a jerk
I definitely feel like slow release is the better format, too, because it actually allows both. It's much more readonable, to me, to expect somebody to avoid spoilers until they can arrange a content dump (DVD) than to expect everybody in my office to pace ourselves together to facilitate lunchroom conversation.
For anything else it's better in small doses. With series that aren't top notch you start to quickly lose intrest after watching too many in a row, and for good quality shows you miss out on stuff, if you don't have time to think in between episodes.
I think the divide, for me, might be more if the content is serialized or episodic.
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But also, conversely, the more quickly you get bored with it after watching a ton in a row.
I think Lost was one of the shows that benefited most from being shown once a week. I got alot of enjoyment out of watching an episode and then coming here and reading about everyone else's theory about what this or that meant, only to have it completely shot down by usually the end of the next episode. The sense of community that show had was something that I don't think you would have gotten as much from if you just watched a whole season in 3 or 4 days non-stop and then caught up in the threads.
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Lost, Walking Dead, Game of thrones... these are shows that generally have audiences that grow bigger week by week towards the finale, because people talk about it, and those conversations lead other people to check in get hooked and tell other friends.
When your model is based on maintaining subscribers over a long period of time or selling ad-space, you really should stretch these story-driven shows out for a bit so the fans can chew on it, debate and theorize as to what will happen next, and keep selling those monthly payments or toyota ads.
Content dumps are good for story driven shows that have already happened (see: hulu, netflix, etc). You couldn't force me to watch one episode of Deep Space 9 a week because the only people to talk with about the show have already seen it all, like ten years ago...
House of Cards specifically would've benefited from being serialized imo just because there are several plot threads that seem benign or unclear initially that pay off later in the season. Letting them linger and either be focused on or dismissed will only make the final payoff that much more engaging -- either because it was something that you and your friends (or a thread of random nerds on an Internet forum about a comic about video-games) spent hours talking about, or because it was something you noticed and remembered but dismissed as insignificant.
Whereas with serialized show you need some time to digest chunks of the show.
At least that's my experience.
Some of my favorite shows, its debating whats going to happen next that amps you up for the next episode and makes you want to keep watching. In Lost half the fun was debating pros and cons about the story, then trying to figure out where the story was going next.
HoC Is the kind of show that want's people to think about where the story is going, but due to the way its distributed, you don't have to.
Actually the original House of Cards was 4 episodes of about 55 minutes long.
The British original was substantially different in the first season from of HoC.
HoC was for one thing toned down substantially from the original.
Release an episode every other or every third day. Think Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. It didn't have the long waits between episodes but still had the social/event thing. Weekly works most of the time, but there's no reason to do it that infrequently in online form. If you dump it all at once, then people hit it and quit it, and can only discuss it with other people who watched it at the same time. There's no time to discuss things mid-stream. A release pace of 2 or 3 times a week means people can consume it communally still.
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I agree. I think even a short release window, like a month for a ten episode series, will give it more of a "event" vibe and lead to more social sharing.
Dumping it all just turns it into a really long movie. "You see that series? Yeah? Um....cool. That one part was good. Okay. Bye."
On the other hand, I remember House of Cards being much more episodic; it had an overarching story, but most of the time, a problem and a solution cropped up in every episode. I don't think it would have hurt it to drop an episode or two at a time over the course of a week or two.
It's just the season breaks that get you.
I will say video games feel completely different for me. Releasing add ons to existing games annoys me to no end. Final Fantasy 13-2, for example, kept releasing add on content for like 6 months, long after I'd beaten the game, and I couldn't be arsed to go back and get in the groove of that game so I could enjoy the very short episodes they kept tacking on.
I think it's better to save content and release it as a brand new game. Scratches the addiction itch much better. Kingdom Hearts, for example, came out with "Kingdom Hearts 2" years ago, and promised us a Kingdom Hearts 3, of course. They have managed to release four completely new games that added significantly to the story, all of which are not Kingdom Hearts 3, and I'm basically frothing at the mouth in anticipation because of it. So they are apparently doing something correct.
I never have much trouble with missing stuff because I didn't have time to think in between. For some shows it actually helps me appreciate it more when I'm watching it in a chunk. I get more into the groove of the show, feeling the style and the narrative better.
"There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing." -- Andrew Jackson
How did you play the New Vegas DLC?
I still need to. . .
"There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing." -- Andrew Jackson
It may depend on the series too. I watched 24 on fox as it happened - I still remember season 1 like I just finished it, but the later seasons just weren't as good, and I don't remember them as well.
Also, I find watching 24 difficult on Netflix. There's something about having that week-long break each hour that keeps the show from going off the deep end in my mind.
Yeah, a trickle of content, imo, does not work at all for video games. Most people play them in streaks in my experience.
Like, I still haven't played the ME3 DLC because I haven't touched that game since I beat it a few times like 12 months ago or whatever.
This seems like you're saying it's not that good because it messes with the way we currently watch tv, rather than it being bad for the show itself. (Story wise that is.)
Of course this way of releasing content diminishes the "water cooler appeal" of talking about what might happen next week. But I question whether that is really much of a loss. It's fun to engage in speculation and shipping and whatnot but at the end I don't think it adds anything to the show. I'm much more interested in discussion of the work itself anyway, and such a thing is greatly helped by having the full show/season (ideally you'd have the entire show to review but a season can be enough to discuss). I don't usually stop right in the middle of a book to discuss with others what might happen later in the book, I just read and finish the story and form an opinion based on the whole. Not that discussion can not be had when the story is not finished, but I think that one just lacks enough content to do so in a truly meaningful way.
In addition, the ability to watch a show in bulk has gotten me to appreciate a lot of shows much more than I would've had I been obligated to wait a week all the time. In the serious tv camp that most definitely applies to The Wire. Initially I wasn't very interested because it seemed just a slow cop-show. Then I just watched the first season because I had nothing better to do, waited a while before I understood what that shit meant and watched the rest of it in like a week. That is the greatest tv-show in history, bro. And watching it in bulk made me realise how good it fit together. I didn't need a week to digest every episode, I just watched that shit and got it.
Also, in response to those who say the weekly episode works better for comedy, I think you might be completely wrong. Mostly because comedy relies on you paying attention and following the comedian in the jokes he's building. Arrested Development and Archer are for me excellent examples of a combination of running jokes and references that are highlighted when you're watching more episodes in a row. There is a coherency in the comedic theme that I notice just that much more.
The water-cooler aspect does help sales and analysis though. Partly because it helps build hype and a community for the show (the second of which is essential for any sort of interesting analysis) and partly because you should be digesting the episode and considering what just happened and all that. Analysis of the work as a whole depends on understanding the parts and you do tend to understand them a bit better when you have some time to mull them over (although not so much time that you forget those details)
Not necessarily. Hell, most mainstream comedy shows are written assuming the viewer isn't paying much attention and hasn't seen any previous episodes.
Comedy shows come in many different types and people above were clearly talking about the more episodic ones.
And I think that while analysing a particular episode is obviously beneficial I don't see a reason why that requires the content to not be already there. If you need time to digest, wait before playing the next episode. Much like you can put a book down when you think something really fundamental has happened or something. Or you can watch it all and then go back to the episode with more knowledge. You can take your time, you don't have to be given it.
Also, part of my point is that looking at it from the perspective of "this is how we usually do it" doesn't tell us much. Yes, this way build hype and community in the usual way and that can help us understand but that doesn't mean it can't be done different. Hell, some of the most interesting discussions about tv-shows I've had were of shows all of us had watched in bulk. I'm saying that it adds to the experience, it's just a different experience.
Well sure if we're talking about shit comedy shows then spacing out the shit probably helps.
Okay, that's a bit harsh. I'm just saying that "shows that are essentially built around this model work best with this model" isn't much of an argument. If we're discussing the merits of content-dumping then it seems strange to include shows where content dumping doesn't matter. Status quo shows already work and thrive, they already fit into the current system perfectly and more power to them. It's cool.
(I must say though that most comedies still work best in bulk. I didn't mean that all comedies tell jokes over many episodes, but more that comedy has this thing where it says "yo this is the kind of humour we do so get into that mindset" and that staying in that mindset adds to the humour. Staying in that mindset here means basically watching more episodes in a row.)
Damn - I can't find the article.
EDIT: I am not entirely sure, but I think it was this one: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/business/media/netflix-to-deliver-all-13-episodes-of-house-of-cards-on-one-day.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0