Media in the Online Age; Development of Online Film and

Television

In 1997, Reed Hastings had a bright idea after reluctantly paying around $40 of overdue fines to rent Apollo 13 on DVD - In California, with previous colleague Marc Randolph, he created Netflix

In 1999, Netflix began to deliver DVD rental, and found success with a monthly subscription scheme and personalized video recommendation

Netflix delivered its billionth DVD in 2007, and the company began the necessary move into on-demand online streaming

Although DVD sales fell between 2006 and 2011 as the online age dawned, Netflix grew significantly as a company; by April 2011, over 26 million online subscriptions had been acquired, generating more than $1.5 billion in digital revenue

Netflix’s adaptability has allowed it to become a media organisation giant; by April of 2014, it had gained over 50 million subscribers

iTunes Store was initially up and running as an online music service in 2003. However, it was not until 2005 that television shows were available for purchase, and 2006 for films; Apple adhered to the implications of the new chapter in technology before Netflix did so, but did not move into subscription schemes, rather online rentals of films or, alternatively, on-demand purchase for the average price of a DVD/Blu-Ray

Much in the subscriber-friendly ethos however, iTunes offer season passes for television shows – users can purchase the season before or during its run, and new episodes will be automatically downloaded around 24 hours following airtime

Channel Four was the first British television channel to launch an online streaming service – ‘4oD’, in 2006 – a year following iTunes’ digital TV launch

This service offers on-demand stream for (most) shows that have recently been shown on Channel4, E4, More4, and archives. BBC followed the trend in late 2007 with BBC iPlayer, as did ITV in 2008 with ITV Player; all three services are now available also on mobile and Playstation, along with the likes of Netflix and LoveFilm – in this age of online, multi-platform has, more and more, proven to be the podium for the mass audiences

In 1999, renting a film through a service such as Netflix would involve waiting a number of days for the DVD to arrive. Likewise, purchasing a film or TV boxset would obviously imply traveling to the nearest store, and if you were to rent a feature from a store such as Blockbuster, you would be restricted to return the disc in order to avoid overdue fine, as Hastings did

The online age of media has benefitted both the audiences and institutions behind film and television – as consumers we can instantly stream or download film and television, and as the online age progresses and more and more people adapt to digital, institutions benefit more and more from online marketing - for instance, Google promotes “Better Call Saul” (TV Drama), both AMC and Netflix are at advantage

Both DVD and cinema ticket sales have inevitably fallen as result of online services which exploit the comfort and ease of on-demand. Even as Blu-Ray came about in 2006 and slowly became popular, the option of HD from online services has diluted the benefit of DVD over Blu-Ray as now neither are necessary in physical copy

Although DVD and Blu-Ray have not yet been completely obliterated by on-demand, it is often speculated that it will not be long before they become the preservative of a niche, collector oriented audience – as vinyl was superseded by the CD and video by the DVD, digital and online will supplant the DVD and the CD, to be left as narrowly sought after collectables and passing fads, as vinyl is today