“Fans trump audiences,” Meeker said, crediting the observation to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who will speak tomorrow before the show closes. “An audience changes the channel when the show is over. A fan base shares, comments, creates content” when the show is done, magnifying the show’s reach and engagement with existing and potential new audiences. And the research suggests that, “when TV is combined with social interaction, there’s a nice lift for brand/purchase/advertiser recognition,” improving the impact of ads that accompany those shows.
Unsure how I feel about this. On the one hand, it’s a point that’s difficult to argue, but I also worry about the idea of creators pushing in directions that are essentially narrowcasting fan-service all the time, which strikes me as a dangerous way to go.