Summary: “Online Defeats TV!”

James Poniewozik, Time, (13 August 2012), Vol. 180 Issue 7, p.61

Oppose hypothesis

The Time magazine article by James Poniewozik on the 13 August 2012, titled “Online Defeats TV!”, compares the strength and weaknesses of Online vs. TV, as identified through his experience of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

TV still has the largest audience and hence has the most valuable advertising space. To capitalise on this existing value the media owners reserve premium content (such as the Olympic Games opening ceremony) to Television, giving it the unfair advantage over online. During the games, TV was supplied with a commentary while online had next to none. TV also has a larger display compared to small screen portable devices and clearer image without “buffering, pixelation, freezing or crashing”. TV also has the advantage in that the technology is well matured, popular and relatively simple to operate.

Online streaming of the Olympic Games provided instant gratification, which allowed you to watch the events of choice when you wanted. This also meant at times you saw events before Television broadcast. Online is an interactive environment, which in the case of the Olympics the events were all accessible via a menu display. This, unlike TV, allowed you to navigate your content rather than to follow a scheduled programme. The Olympics live-stream came with banner ads and short video ads which were less intrusive to those of Television.

Citations:

Poniewozik, J. (2012, August 13), Online Defeats TV! Time 180(7), 61. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.waikato.ac.nz/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=78294484&site=ehost-live