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I think 'live' television serves as an effective master clock for synchronizing shared experiences. I would expect that it's especially effective when the commu

I think 'live' television serves as an effective master clock for synchronizing shared experiences. I would expect that it's especially effective when the community of people who share a common interest is large enough that peer to peer election of that kind of timing authority would be infeasible without for-purpose technical infrastructure that either currently doesn't exist, or is so niche that the results are equivalent. Synchronized experience seems to enable some pretty powerful community interactions around discussion and participation that just don't seem to coalesce into a critical mass when everyone experiences (and then comments and participates) asynchronously.

jerf 6y ago
If you assume in advance that the same number of people will either tune in live or watch a stream non-synchronized, you may have a point. The problem is, once you account for the liveness also making it so fewer people tune in, it's not clear to me it's a win. I haven't been beholden to a TV schedule in... ummm... about seventeen years, I think? 2003 sounds about right for my first TiVo. (I was fresh out of college and still affected by the bubble burst, I had to wait for them to come down in price quite a bit.) The only thing I watch live are the occasional sports program and SpaceX launches. Having an actual schedule certainly shoots my personal interest to zippo in this particular product. If I can go back and watch things, which is not at the moment clear to me, then there's at least a possibility that I would become interested enough in some particular thing to tune in live. But if live viewing is the only option, you're never going to get my attention.
- solidasparagus 6y ago
  Live video survives in two situations: when you need to see the outcome as it happens (e.g. sports) and when the primary draw is individuals and interacting with them (e.g. streamers).
mr_toad 6y ago
> I think 'live' television serves as an effective master clock for synchronizing shared experiences. Maybe in certain time zones. We’re well into Monday afternoon here, but Cloudflare TV looks like Sunday afternoon in the 80’s - i.e. nothing to watch.

jerf 6y ago

If you assume in advance that the same number of people will either tune in live or watch a stream non-synchronized, you may have a point. The problem is, once you account for the liveness also making it so fewer people tune in, it's not clear to me it's a win. I haven't been beholden to a TV schedule in... ummm... about seventeen years, I think? 2003 sounds about right for my first TiVo. (I was fresh out of college and still affected by the bubble burst, I had to wait for them to come down in price quite a bit.) The only thing I watch live are the occasional sports program and SpaceX launches. Having an actual schedule certainly shoots my personal interest to zippo in this particular product. If I can go back and watch things, which is not at the moment clear to me, then there's at least a possibility that I would become interested enough in some particular thing to tune in live. But if live viewing is the only option, you're never going to get my attention.

solidasparagus 6y ago
Live video survives in two situations: when you need to see the outcome as it happens (e.g. sports) and when the primary draw is individuals and interacting with them (e.g. streamers).

mr_toad 6y ago

> I think 'live' television serves as an effective master clock for synchronizing shared experiences. Maybe in certain time zones. We’re well into Monday afternoon here, but Cloudflare TV looks like Sunday afternoon in the 80’s - i.e. nothing to watch.