Print is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age

In what could be an interesting development for publishers who fear that electronic books will cannibalize sales of print books, the CW television network is going to stop offering episodes of its popular show Gossip Girl on its website. Why? Because, it seems, the show was too popular. According to the Los Angeles Times, “The move is designed to boost ratings for the program, which has developed a loyal online following but has failed to attract a sizable TV audience.” It seems that young kids were flocking to the network’s website to watch the show, and were buying it from iTunes, but they weren’t necessarily tuning in to watch it on TV. This is a problem because television networks make a lot more money from advertisements that appear on television than on their websites.

And while networks are more than happy to have websites for their shows, and even feature episodes online, it’s clear from the CW’s actions with Gossip Girl that those websites are meant to only be a tangential experience. The computer screen was never intended to replace the TV screen, but that’s exactly what’s happening. And now the CW is trying to correct that, acting like a restaurant pulling appetizers off its menu because too many people were ordering them, and never making it to the main course.

Again, per the LA Times:

The reversal underscores a dilemma facing traditional media companies. Revenue from online entertainment is meager compared with their core business of advertising-supported television. Some TV executives have questioned whether they are cannibalizing their audience, and revenue, by making popular programs ubiquitous on the Internet.

So, in the end, they really don’t want you to just watch the show; they want you to watch it on television. This seems to me fairly ridiculous, and is a policy that will either not last or won’t be a success. Yes, some people will indeed grumble and set their Tivos to record it (and a smaller group will actually huddle around their TV sets whenever it is that the CW airs the show). But most teens will just go elsewhere, watching shows from another network’s website (places where they can stream shows), or else they’ll just click over to Youtube or Facebook, and spend their time there.

But for networks to take their audience for granted is not a good idea. This point has been recently proven by the fact that, according to an article in Ad Age, TV audiences — now that the writer’s strike is over, and new shows are starting to reappear — have not yet returned. So for the CW to try and redirect their Web traffic to TV sets, as if consumers were a flowing river that — if you just put up enough sandbags and timber — you can point in any direction, is wrong.