Section:GDN 12 PaGe:9 Edition Date:190821 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 20/8/2019 17:23 cYanmaGentaYellowbla

• The Guardian
  Wednesday 21 August 2019 9

the platforms are focusing their

algorithms and cash as the

attention wars escalate. Netfl ix is

likely to lose Friends and the US

version of The Offi c e – a combined

400-plus episodes of non-event

T V – as WarnerMedia and NBC,

their owners, launch their own

streaming platforms at some point

in the next couple of years. Apple is

due to launch a streaming service

in the autumn, and has lobbed

a r eported $6bn at new programmes

( including a drama starring Reese

Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston

as warring TV hosts). But , although

audiences come for the shiny new

stuff , they stay for the old reliables

such as Seinfeld, over which there is

a bidding war. Disney+ is launching

in the autumn  – and because Disney

owns the Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel

franchises, that is a lot of “tonnage”.

B all reckons

Netfl ix would have achieved similar

levels of success with or without

Friend s  – but he stresses that Netfl ix

is popular for precisely the same

reasons that Friends is popular. It’s

just easy to watch. “Netfl ix’s delivery

innovations have made it so easy

PHOTOGRAPHS: NETFLIX; REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; NBC

to discover and watch content that

whole generations, who would never

have watched Friends or Golden

Girls on random TV networks,

are devouring them.” There is

something novel about watching

a season of Friends in sequential

order, as opposed to a mishmash

of repeats and missed episodes. A

semi-forgotten series such as Frasier,

meanwhile, can fi nd new life in the

streaming era as a  meme trove.

All this presents an additional

challenge to the traditional

channels , as the new Ofcom

statistics reveal. The average British

person watches nearly fi ve hours

of video a day, on TVs, laptops,

phones and the rest. Live TV remains

dominan t – on average, we watch

two hours and 43 minutes a da y –

but other means are catching up,

including recorded playback (30

minutes), streaming services (26

minutes) and YouTube not on a TV

(34 minutes).

We may no longer be content to

settle for random reruns on regular

channels , but according to the

Broadcasters’ Audience Research

Board (Barb ) – which has collated

viewing-hours data since 199 2 – it’s

not vastly more than we used to

watch. Twenty-fi ve years ago, we

were still watching close to four

hours of broadcast TV each a day,

and that wasn’t counting satellite

and cabl e  – nor hours spent watching

old VHS tapes.

The high numbers make more

sense when you consider how

people actually use their TVs. In the

90s, my family TV set would usually

be switched on from between 4pm

and 11pm every day, and I don’t

think we were unusual. My little

sister watched cartoons after school,

and my older sister and I would then

commandeer the remote for Home

and Away and Neighbours. The

early evening news would play to

an empty room while we ate dinner,

then the whole family would gather

for Top of the Pops or EastEnders. A

lot of the time, the TV would be on in

the background while housework or

homework was done, a bit like how

I have the radio on most of the time

in my kitchen now. Or how many

teenagers let YouTubers autoplay in

their bedrooms.

As Ball says, this sort of TV

consumption hasn’t really change d –

it has just got more effi cient.

“Millions are still watching TV this

way, just with Netfl ix and Hulu,”

he says. “The major platforms are

increasingly interested in how to

facilitate this. Hulu just rolled out

a ‘play random episode’ feature

and Pluto TV has a  programming

schedule [that replicates broadcast]:

you tune in and just surf as you

would a TV. Audiences still like this.”

Seetal, 38, from north London,

lists Friends, The Big Bang Theory,

Brooklyn 99 and Two and a Half

Men, as well as Nigel Slater’s and

Rick Stein’s cookery programmes

as being among her favourite non-

event TV shows. “They’re familiar,

and that’s a source of comfort

in itself. There’s a heavy dose of

nostalgia. And you know what’s

going to happen.” Sometimes, we

watch TV because we want to be

gripped and amazed , but mostly

because we want to be soothed

and cheered. Personally, I’m a little

dystopia’d out at the moment,

and slightly weary of portentous

prestige dramas that only really get

going in the third series; I’m always

more keen to be recommended a

25-minute sitcom.

Helen Sneha Jambunathan,

a behavioural analyst for the market

research company Canvas8, sees

such choices as an inevitabl e  – when

many of us face increasing levels

of stress and anxiety , “the lure of

vegging out is undeniable”, she

says. “Easy-to-consume media let

people switch off in a way that’s

simply not possible when fully

focused or even just daydreaming. It

provides the same eff ect as carrying

out manual work or exercisin g –

your consciousness has something

to focus on, while the rest of you

truly gets to rest.” You could call it

mindful mindlessness.

For Emma, 34, a freelance events

designer from Margate, the absence

of unexpected twists is what draws

her back to her favourites : The Fresh

Prince of Bel-Air, Frasier and Parks

and Recreation. “There’s nothing

that’s going to give you deep thought

there. Something like Line of Duty

or Killing Eve is not like that.” But

her most compulsive viewing is

The Big Bang Theory, to which she

has fallen asleep every night for the

past fi ve years.

“I’m one of those weird people

who has to have noise on when

I work. I always have at least the

radio and the TV on at the same

time. I feel like my brain has adapted

to all these extra stimul i – if there’s

silence, I can’t switch off , so it’s

a way of keeping my brain occupied.

So when I go to sleep I have to watch

The Big Bang Theory on repeat or

I just lie awake thinking about stuff .”

Emma knows how bad all that

blue light is for your concentration ,

and how it is important to give your

brain a break from information.

She wishes she could listen to

some classical music, or even have

silence instead. “But I now just can’t

sleep without it.” She estimates

that she has seen every episode

about 20 times. Considering there

are 279 episodes , that is a lot of Big

Bang Theory.

We think of

elderly people

relying on TV for

companionship,

but younger

people do it, too

Arrested

Development ...

more popular

than Stranger

Things

The US version

of The Offi ce ...

Netfl ix’s most

popular show

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