How The Web Is Changing the Way We Watch TV

For all the complaining you hear about kids these days watching too much television, you'd think they would actually be, well, watching television. But many of them aren't.

As it turns out, young people are increasingly turning off the tube and turning on their laptops when they want video entertainment, but it's about more than silly YouTube clips.

Original web TV programming and streaming options for popular traditional TV shows have people asking the question, "Why do we need cable?" It's difficult to come up with a good answer to that one, so here are a couple reasons you don't.

There Are Great Shows Exclusive to the Web
Because web series are much cheaper to produce and viewership expectations are much lower than would be the case with over-the-air shows, they can target audiences with niche interests who are underserved by broadcast TV.

Successful web TV niches include college students, gamers and tech geeks, but there's really a little something for just about everybody. Here are a few great examples that you can watch right here and right now.

The Guild: A comedy about a group of gamer misfits who met online.


The Elevator: Each episode is 90 seconds of drama and comedy in one elevator ride.


Fred: A teenager portrays a six-year old in this zany video diary series.

You Can Watch Most Of Your Broadcast Favorites Online
If you want to stick to the big budget, celebrity-powered network TV series you're used to, that's okay too.

TV networks have launched websites like ABC.com, Hulu, and TV.com that stream many if not all of their primetime programming at no cost. The few shows you can't stream from the web you can buy one episode at a time from Amazon Video on Demand or Apple iTunes. Some devices will take that web-based content off your computer screen and put it on your living room TV.

The following shows are viewable online at Hulu.com, a partnership between NBC, FOX, and other networks. You can also watch them right here on this page, actually. This isn't a complete representation of what's out there by any means.

The Office


Grey's Anatomy


House


Twitter, Blogs, and Facebook Are Making Solitary TV Social
Big TV events like season premieres, award shows and political speeches are now massively social experiences. If you keep web browser windows with Twitter, Facebook, and blogs open while you're watching, you'll see what thousands of people are saying about what's happening on the tube, then send your thoughts out as well.
 
There's even a site called Ustream that integrates chat into its live video streams of events like President Obama's State of the Union speech.

Digital distribution and cheaper production technology will increase options for everyone, and most of all, viewers are going to enjoy TV series on their terms and their own time.

How has the web changed the way you watch TV?
 
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Founded in July 2005, Mashable is the world's largest blog focused exclusively on Web 2.0 and Social Media news. With more than 15 million monthly page views, Mashable is the most prolific blog reviewing new Web sites and services, publishing breaking news on what's new on the web and offering social media resources and guides.

(Top image: wonderlane)