9.1 Television and Streaming
The global phenomenon of Netflix’s Squid Game, released in late 2021, offered a stark illustration of television’s profound evolution. Within its first 28 days, the South Korean survival drama captivated an astounding 111 million households worldwide, becoming Netflix’s most-watched series at the time. To grasp the magnitude of this, consider the highest-rated traditional broadcast programs released around the same period. While a Super Bowl might still draw over 100 million live linear viewers, a top-rated scripted network drama like NCIS or a cable hit like Yellowstone typically garnered audiences in the range of 10-20 million viewers for a new episode. This dramatic disparity in viewership metrics—between global streaming households and domestic linear ratings—underscores a fundamental shift: the very concept of “watching television” has been irrevocably transformed by the advent and dominance of streaming.
For much of its history, “watching television” was an appointment-based, communal activity. In the medium’s “Golden Age” of the 1950s and 60s, families gathered around a single set in the living room, adhering to strict broadcast schedules. With only a handful of channels, programming was a shared national experience, encompassing news, variety shows, and sitcoms. The advent of cable television in the 1970s and 1980s expanded choice exponentially, introducing hundreds of channels and fostering niche programming; however, the linear, schedule-driven model largely persisted. The 1984 Betamax case, which affirmed the legality of time-shifting (recording a program to watch later), offered a nascent form of on-demand viewing, albeit still tethered to the original broadcast. Viewers were still “watching TV” in a fundamentally passive way, receiving content dictated by broadcasters.
The true revolution began subtly with Netflix’s pivot from a DVD-by-mail service to a streaming platform in the late 2000s. Initially, streaming was about convenience, offering a digital library of licensed movies and old TV shows. This marked the first significant departure from the linear channel paradigm; suddenly, viewers could select what they wanted, when they wanted it, from a growing catalog of content. The shift accelerated dramatically when Netflix began investing heavily in original content, starting notably with House of Cards in 2013. This move not only legitimized streaming as a production powerhouse but also popularized “binge-watching“—the consumption of entire seasons in one sitting. This marked a radical departure from the weekly release schedule, giving viewers unprecedented control over their viewing pace.
The success of Netflix’s originals spurred a proliferation of rival streaming services, as traditional media companies like Disney (Disney+), Warner Bros. Discovery (HBO Max), and NBCUniversal (Peacock) launched their platforms, reclaiming their content and creating new exclusive programming. This era ushered in “cord-cutting,” where consumers increasingly abandoned expensive cable subscriptions in favor of a curated bundle of streaming services. The global nature of these platforms, unconstrained by national broadcast boundaries, allowed a show like Squid Game, produced in South Korea, to instantly become a worldwide sensation, transcending language and cultural barriers in a way that traditional television rarely could.
Consequently, “watching television” today is a far more personalized, active, and fragmented experience. Viewers are no longer beholden to schedules; they watch what they want, when they want it, on their terms. With multiple devices (smartphones, tablets, laptops, smart TVs) and individual profiles on streaming services, family members often watch different programs simultaneously in other rooms, or even on the go. The act is no longer just about turning on the TV; it involves navigating vast libraries, searching for specific titles, and curating personal watchlists. Content from virtually any country is now accessible, breaking down geographical barriers that once defined television consumption. “Watching television” doesn’t even require a television anymore, as the internet has become the primary delivery mechanism, blurring the lines between traditional television and other forms of digital video content, such as YouTube videos, TikTok videos, or even live streams of video games.
In essence, streaming has dismantled the traditional gatekeepers and geographical constraints of television, transforming it from a scheduled broadcast medium into a vast, on-demand content ecosystem. The success of Squid Game was not just about a popular show; it was a testament to a new era where “television” is less about a device or a channel, and more about a personalized, borderless, and constantly evolving digital experience. The screen remains central, but what we watch, how we watch it, and where we watch it have undergone fundamental changes, promising continued innovation and adaptation in the years to come.
