Streaming Content and Engaging Audiences in Changing Landscapes

 Strides in mobile technology and social media have changed the ways people consume entertainment content, placing new demands on distributors and organizations if they want to keep their audience engaged.

This is especially evident in the world of television where piracy and social media have turned viewing into a communal experience for global audiences. Broadcast television, tied to antiquated business models, has fought an uphill battle to keep up. This has not been the case for over the top streaming services like Netflix.

Netflix recently announced their intentions to double down on original content in 2016, launching thirty-one Netflix Originals compared to last year's sixteen.

2013's House of Cards marked a new wave of original content for streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Instant and Hulu. Without the demands of the broadcast business model, streaming services could make entire seasons available in one day, liberating audiences from a fixed weekly programming schedule and empowering them to watch at their own speed.

With new methods of distribution has come new ways of articulating content. The writers and creators behind Netflix's Daredevil, Orange is the New Black and Bloodline, have broken away from traditional TV narratives that are built around ad breaks, weekly viewing and seasons. Instead, they structure their stories for an audience that's more inclined to binge a season over a weekend. These shows are typically structured as thirteen-hour movies, with one central story stretched across a season, giving scenes time to breathe and introducing plot threads at a deliberate pace over a number of episodes. The result is an immersive experience designed to be consumed in multi-hour blocks.

While not every business faces the same challenges poised by piracy and consumer demands, engaging key stakeholders with a story in a landscape that's being disrupted by digital and cultural developments is a universal issue. If traditional ways of sharing your story aren't working anymore, take a page out of Netflix's book and change the approach.

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Ludic Creatives is one of the world's premiere storytelling consultants for global organizations. Our network is home to artists, filmmakers, writers and performance coaches who specialize in helping our clients tell stories in ways that engage their audiences. To learn more, send us an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..