Week Two’s reading  ‘I Want My Talk TV: Network Talk Shows in a Digital Universe’ speaks about the evolution of audience engagement and how developments in mobile media have meant changes in the way networks approach content distribution in, what is coined, the post-network era. These changes have seen the audience and network relationship evolve, which has audiences more at the forefront of the decisions made by broadcast networks, regarding programming and content. Now that audiences have multiple avenues of which media consumption is possible, the production of quality content alone isn’t something networks can rely on to be as lucrative as it once was in the network era when audiences had fewer content and less control over what they viewed (Jones 2009).

Now more than ever, networks have the audience in mind. With today’s audience dispersed over multiple platforms and media devices, television networks’ primary focus is to encapsulate the consumer by providing content where audiences are located, instead of relying on the audience to come to them. Jones (2009, p. 18-19) states ‘Networks must be very intentional about how they distribute their content outside of the traditional network-affiliate relationship precisely because viewers have so many choices, including the choice not to watch television altogether’. This idea prompted me to look at my own craft within the area of multi-camera production. With an ever evolving media landscape and with a multitude of platform and device options for media consumption, I am intrigued by the idea of how to create engaging content in today’s era, while keeping in mind the diversity of modern media consumption. How to create content that is consumable across a diverse range of technology and platforms is something that I am rather interested in, as many creative and technical aspects of visual media production must consider functionality across the diverse range of technology and platforms. 

Reference:

Jones, J 2009,  ‘I Want My Talk TV: Network Talk Shows in a Digital Universe’, in Amanda Lotz (ed.), Beyond Prime Time: Television Programming in the Post-Network Era, Routledge, New York, pp. 14-35.