Here’s how a typical night for sophomore Shrey Desai goes: He does his homework (well, most of it anyway) and then turns on the TV. Then,of course, the ever pressing dilemma of a high school student becomes apparent. There’s nothing good to watch on TV. So instead of whining and cribbing, Desai turns to YouTube and watches a show called “Video Game High School,” which only airs on the Internet.
Nowadays, many shows are aired directly on the Internet rather than on TV and then later uploaded to popular websites like Netflix or Hulu. Both websites have accumulated numerous subscribers over the past years. Netflix for example, had 23.6 million subscribers a year ago, which has now increased to a whopping 29.2 million subscribers today. That means the equivalents of one out of every 10 U.S. residents uses Netflix.
Because of this growing popularity, websites like Netflix and Hulu, which are known for streaming TV shows and movies, are creating their own original, “exclusive” series such as “Orange is the New Black” or “The Wrong Mans.” Even YouTubers are creating legitimate shows that are popular and have any avid followers.
Like Netflix, YouTube has its own original shows. However, instead of the website creating its own shows, people are uploading legitimate shows they have created themselves.
Desai watches a show called “Video Game High School,” which airs on the channel FreddieW (RocketJump), which has 6,654,143 subscribers.
“[Shows on the Internet] are accessible to more viewers, less prone to advertisements and have a good quality of viewership,” Desai said. “Also, it will be on the web forever, and there are more ways of sharing the episodes.”
“Video Game High School” airs an episode every one to two weeks. Each episode gathers more than 2 million views.
Sophomore Sanah Shah watches a Netflix original, “Arrested Development.” The show aired on Fox for its first three seasons, but the fourth season premiered as a Netflix exclusive. Like “Orange is the New Black,” it releases all of its episodes simultaneously.
“I like that there are no commercials when I watch ‘Arrested Development,’ but one disadvantage is the dependability of Wi-Fi,” Shah said.
Like Shah, Desai enjoys the advantages of this new method of watching shows.
“I like watching shows on the Internet because I can pretty much watch them anytime I have my computer whereas there is usually a strict schedule I have to follow for TV,” Desai said.
