One-fifth of ‘Office’ viewers watched online
Cory Bergman March 11th, 2008
Who would watch TV on a computer? 20% of the people who watched NBC’s The Office premiere back in September watched it on their PCs. “I think what we’re seeing right now is a great cultural shift of how this country watches television,” said Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Family Guy. “Forty years ago, new technology changed what people watched on TV as it migrated to color. Now new technology is changing where people watch TV, literally omitting the actual television set.”
21 Comments Add your own
1. tdc | March 11th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
and “who’s going to watch weather reports generated from a centralized location?”
“it’ll never work!”
when are they going to announce the several billion dollar bids for The Weather Channel?
2. Contrarian | March 11th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Yep, go ahead and toss that 60″ plasma on your wall. Get rid of the 7.1 theatre surround sound system, too.
Time to go to the office and sit in front of your PC to watch TV now.
3. tdc | March 11th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
contrarian,
no one said to toss your set… only your mindset.
4. Rocker | March 11th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
No issue with the thrust of the article…but 20%? I frankly find that hard to believe.
5. Allen | March 11th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Did that 20% NEVER watch an episode on tv? I’ll usually watch The Office live or dvrd but will watch it again online every now and then.
6. Z | March 12th, 2008 at 8:06 am
I don’t recall anyone I knew back then thinking that the Weather Channel was a bad idea. Of course, I was a weather nut. Now I regret Jim Cantore.
I’d be curious to know how many more only watch it through illegal downloads.
7. tdc | March 12th, 2008 at 8:48 am
sh#t, like always, EVERY local station panned the idea of TWC.
8. tdc | March 12th, 2008 at 8:49 am
granted it was pretty lame at its launch.
9. discreet_chaos | March 12th, 2008 at 9:32 am
There’s no question that I’ve watched the overwhelming majority of “The Office”, “30 Rock” and a few other shows online. Part of it is because I don’t have a DVR, part is because I’ve sort of moved toward viewing most stuff online, if it’s an option and part is because my wife really can’t sit still for the show.
10. tdc | March 12th, 2008 at 10:07 am
this is a little off topic, but with livenewscameras(dotcom) moving into their THIRD page of links to stations around the US, i’d say more people will be using the computer to get what they used to on a tv set.
are you warming up to the concept?
11. discreet_chaos | March 12th, 2008 at 11:00 am
TDC - …and they’ve added back some of the “World” sources. Yippee!
12. Gary | March 12th, 2008 at 11:03 am
It’s not one-fifth of viewers, it’s one-fifth of viewings. The article specifically states that the show was streamed online 2.7 million times. Many of those could have very well been repeated viewings.
13. oakling | March 12th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Thank god we have the online option, too, because my TiFaux murdered the first couple of episodes of the season.
14. Z | March 12th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
“this is a little off topic, but with livenewscameras(dotcom) moving into their THIRD page of links to stations around the US, i’d say more people will be using the computer to get what they used to on a tv set.”
Honestly? This is the only place I hear anyone talking about it. I haven’t been back yet.
I mentioned it to some people at work, and they looked at it and just didn’t see the appeal. I think it could have appeal, but I’m not going to just sit on a site and hope something interesting comes up eventually.
But then, I watch less than an hour of TV a week now anyway.
15. Brink | March 12th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
I honestly can’t see that live news feed page developing much of an audience, no matter how many feeds it hosts.
It’s a gimmick, and although lots of people may look once, the majority will not go back.
16. tdc | March 12th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
“it’s a gimmick”
and what isn’t these days?
evidently you haven’t looked at the purported “headline news” that makes it on cnn’s homepage.
yesterday it was a sweet pink poodle, today “our” gangster mayor.
it’s all a gimmick.
but i think THE CONCEPT has huge implications.
17. tdc | March 12th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
oh, and while i was at it i researched something written awhile ago regarding THE WEATHER CHANNEL- see thepomoblog’s entry from around the first of the year.
18. tdc | March 12th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
z,
that’s about 1 more hour than me, so excuse me if i check out the eyecandy at lnc under the guise of “watching live news”.
19. Z | March 13th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Hey, I don’t begrudge anyone who likes it and watches it. I used to do the same thing watching what came in on the satellite feeds in the control room. It just got old for me, that’s all.
20. Anonymous | March 15th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
I can watch my computer with a $50 used projector and a $5 used video card. Or I can use DVD and Laserdisc. Or I can go author my own. Why do I want to watch TV shows?
I also have 25-40 year old color TV sets. I won’t be watching a cellphone either.
21. Ryan | April 10th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
I watch The Office on my computer…but I have my computer hooked up to a 50″ HDTV in my living room. The future of television is a combination of PC and TV. If anyone is watching tv on their tiny computer monitors, they’re doing it wrong.
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