TV Industry Using Piracy As A Measure Of Success 173
mrspin writes "Last100 has an interesting post from Guinevere Orvis, a web producer who works in the broadcast industry, who describes the way in which 'unofficial' but sanctioned BitTorrent leaks are being used as a measurement of a TV show's likely success. Orvis writes: 'Broadcasters aren't posting their shows directly on PirateBay yet, but they are talking informally and giving copies of shows to a friend of a friend who is unaffiliated with the company to make a torrent ... it's partially an experiment, but the hope is that distribution of content this way will lead to new viewers that wouldn't have been reached through traditional marketing means.'"
Makes Sense... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Where are these new tv shows? (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't get how it's really "piracy" (Score:3, Interesting)
This is exactly how I got hooked on Jericho. I watched the series after it got canceled. I really liked it and ending up watching it again with my friends, who, in turn enjoyed it. Now, we're waiting for the show in mid-January. With HD recording software of course.
I, for one... (Score:4, Interesting)
I've also discovered that it's not always an indication of quality.
Piracy as an index of popularity (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Where are these new tv shows? (Score:3, Interesting)
The list of hurting shows [wikipedia.org]
Re:RSS+Torrents (Score:3, Interesting)
After air in the east coast, I expect it to be available online in 10 minutes. Generally I can have it downloaded in 20 minutes or so, for ~350 MiB episodes. Again, this is a second hand copy. I assume that someone grabs the scene release off of somewhere (Usenet/ftp) and then seeds the torrent.
If they broadcast it through my airwaves, I don't have a problem downloading it. That's my rationalization.
Works for me! (Score:3, Interesting)
Though I think it may have had the opposite long term effect on my viewing. I don't see ads for new shows so I don't hear about them like I used to. I only have like 4 shows that I watch regularly and if they were ever canceled, chances are that I would simply watch less. So downloading shows and skipping commercials has weened me off of television on the whole.
Doesn't bode well for the producers. They have to balance between the number of people who might, like me, just give up on broadcast television and those who'll use Bittorrent only to sample shows and then switch to regular TV. I suspect that more people will begin to see what a ripoff cable/satelite TV is and switch to "piracy" in the long term.
eventually, compulsory/statutory license... (Score:2, Interesting)
You probably can't stop piracy short of Trusted Computing, and that's if and only if trusted computing turns out to be 'unhackable', which history shows is probably unlikely. And the down sides to Trusted Computing aren't worth it anyway.
So, eventually, the only way is a flat fee compulsory license that is tacked onto your ISP bill. Then some system of measuring "# of downloads per show/song/movie", distribute funds accordingly.
Now, the elephant in the room is, this may lead to a situation where meat-puppets who won a genetic lottery that makes them nice to look at will not be making 7 and 8-figure salaries for a movie that takes less than a year to shoot.
Historically, actors and musicians were somewhere between working class types and prostitutes, on the social status ladder. It may end up returning to that eventually. Same with producers and directors etc. These guys seem to think that they're entitled to office space at 100 bucks/sq. ft, private planes, and 7-figure salaries, like it's in the constitution or something.
Re:Not surprised... (Score:5, Interesting)
Now finally there's a doc who shares my feelings. Quite refreshing!
I saw the show at a friend's who got a few episodes from torrents. So now I'm sitting every week for an hour in front of the TV watching. That's one viewer more they wouldn't have without that torrent existing, or at the very least it would have taken me a lot longer to find out that I do actually want to see this medical show.
Makes sense (Score:3, Interesting)
If it weren't for the advertiser-driven model that we currently have, the bittorrent "content delivery system" would be nothing but positive for the industry. What they need to do is make high definition, high quality video files available for download for a reasonable fee, and remove all ads (or at least make that an option). I'd say the removal of commercials is the second most valuable aspect of getting shows off the Internet compared to the tuning in at 8PM (the first being able to watch it when I feel like it, something about as novel as the VCR).
File sharing can't be stopped. Well it could, but it would involve stopping the Internet, and rather large economies would collapse if that happened. The writer's strike is all about writers getting revenue from "new media" and I have to say, I think they have a point since it's pretty clear that before long the boundary what is TV (coming over cable) and what is being delivered by the Internet (which, in my house, comes over cable already) will be less and less distinct.
Just like Fansubs of Anime (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Cost of Piracy (Score:3, Interesting)
As far as I've heard, TV companies haven't been so vicious at hunting down pirates. Not as bad as the movie companies, and certainly not as bad as the RIAA.
It's probably that their product goes out free to all anyway - ad-supported, sure, but there's no revenue coming in directly from people watching the show. A heavily pirated show is clearly a popular show and a sign of success. Many of the pirates are people in whose country the show is not yet out - like, say, Brits watching season 2 of Heroes. Not that I'd be one of them or anything. These pirates build buzz about the show ahead of time - and they'll quite likely get their friends to watch when it finally does air, and watch it again with them.
Ever watched the flags go by in the 'Peers' window on KTorrent? That's a TV marketer's dream. Just sit there and see where you ought to target your show overseas.
would we be better off without TV ads? (Score:4, Interesting)
Personally, I get most of my TV shows (BSG/Dexter/The wire/Sopranos/the office/30 rock) from bittorent. And speaking as somebody who just recently gave up my cable TV, I can't help but wonder if we'd be better off if the whole TV advertising industry went the way of the dodo.
Nothing's really been proven, but there's been some psych studies that have suggest that the deliberate manipulation of your emotions/unconscious motivations by the advertising industry may not be good for society as a whole. I mean, can it be good for a democracy to have regular doses of messages telling you to not trust your own judgment, and that you'll be happier if you just buy [product X]?
And that's without even discussing the impact that the huge high cost of TV advertising has on elections. I can't remember where I heard this (or verify it's veracity) but the statistic I heard was that a US senator needs to raise $10,000 a day every day he's in washington to pay for his re-election. So there's definitely a relationship between the high cost of TV advertising and how beholden politicians are to monied interests.
Re:Free Distribution (Score:2, Interesting)
Imagine a show like, "The Office", which takes place in an actual paper (or otherwise) company who invested to have the brand recognition, like lets say a more competitive paper products company, such as Dixie or Mead. Or Charmin.
Product placement will be so prolific that jokes barely sneak out from behind pyramids of DaSani bottled water and cardboard Budweiser cutouts. The Perry Ellis logo will be emblazoned on every piece of clothing, and even the punchlines to many jokes will involve a brand name in some way or another.
Advertising would no longer be sold based on a show's popularity... shows would be written based on a product's popularity, and its manufacturer's budget. Commercials as we know them will be a thing of the past. They will be the shows. Royalties won't be paid by the shows to the actors; they'll be paid by brand names to the networks. Piracy will be embraced because then you're just stealing what they shouldn't even be able to give away for free.
It's not a far stretch, we're already seeing it more often than we notice. The erosion of the expectations of the masses has begun.
Re:would we be better off without TV ads? (Score:2, Interesting)
Really, on an ethical/moral level, what's the difference between somebody downloading last week's episode of "house" and setting my VCR to record it?
Re:would we be better off without TV ads? (Score:3, Interesting)
So your idea does present an interesting perspective and a sound reason for ending copyright. So no more copyright and no more drunken drugged up minstrals, no more media executives demanding BJs in limos, substantially fewer recruits for the scientologists, no more has been has been actor politicians etc. ect. ect., and of course in will immediately end the existence of 'perverted' copyright pirates.
Now that's a way of really sticking it to the pirates, end copyright and put them right out of business ;).