I want my free TV
This week Fox announced that viewers would have to wait eight days to watch some of their favorite shows online or they could subscribe to Hulu Plus and see them the next day. As a long time user of Hulu, I can tell you that this is pretty much a slap in the face. The whole purpose of Hulu, at least in my eyes, was so that we could watch shows for free with limited commercials. It set me free from the expense of the DVR. This will not make me subscribe to Hulu Plus or make it more likely that I watch a show in real time. Do I love Glee? Yes, will I pay to see it the next day? No.
See, the thing is that House which is on Fox has never been available the next day online, anywhere, it has always been an 8 day wait. I enjoy watching House, I think Hugh Laurie is amazing. When I discovered that House was available the next day through Hulu Plus, it made no difference to me. I would either watch House in real time or just wait the 8 days and get around to watching episodes as a bundle, watching 2 or 3 episodes at a time. I understand the motive of withholding a valuable asset like a hit show, but I also think that testing the patience of the consumer is a risky proposition. Instead of me watching House in real time, I choose to watch another show if I were home because I'd missed an episode of House and couldn't catch up because the show for the week before wasn't available until the day after the new one. Which all led up to me missing most of the season of House.
By withholding and putting shows behind pay walls, networks risk losing the viewers that they already have. Ratings juggernaut, The Big Bang Theory, was not available online for free, until recently and then only one episode at a time. Did I stop watching Community in real time to watch TBBT? Um, heck no. So I was happy to see CBS offer it up even if it was just one episode at a time.
The only time that I was ever desperate enough to pay for TV online was when I lived in Spain and Lost was in it's second season. I though I was in an exciting place I still needed my weekly fix. But not all shows are Lost.
It will be interesting to see the impact that this move has on the programs that are behind the paywall. Will people actually subscribe to HuluPlus, will more people get DVR's or just revert back to illegal downloading? I know that I am much more likely to wait for something for free rather than paying for it. Also, after the whole Netflix subscription debacle this is just another knife in the consumers back.
See, the thing is that House which is on Fox has never been available the next day online, anywhere, it has always been an 8 day wait. I enjoy watching House, I think Hugh Laurie is amazing. When I discovered that House was available the next day through Hulu Plus, it made no difference to me. I would either watch House in real time or just wait the 8 days and get around to watching episodes as a bundle, watching 2 or 3 episodes at a time. I understand the motive of withholding a valuable asset like a hit show, but I also think that testing the patience of the consumer is a risky proposition. Instead of me watching House in real time, I choose to watch another show if I were home because I'd missed an episode of House and couldn't catch up because the show for the week before wasn't available until the day after the new one. Which all led up to me missing most of the season of House.
By withholding and putting shows behind pay walls, networks risk losing the viewers that they already have. Ratings juggernaut, The Big Bang Theory, was not available online for free, until recently and then only one episode at a time. Did I stop watching Community in real time to watch TBBT? Um, heck no. So I was happy to see CBS offer it up even if it was just one episode at a time.
The only time that I was ever desperate enough to pay for TV online was when I lived in Spain and Lost was in it's second season. I though I was in an exciting place I still needed my weekly fix. But not all shows are Lost.
It will be interesting to see the impact that this move has on the programs that are behind the paywall. Will people actually subscribe to HuluPlus, will more people get DVR's or just revert back to illegal downloading? I know that I am much more likely to wait for something for free rather than paying for it. Also, after the whole Netflix subscription debacle this is just another knife in the consumers back.
Comments