Near the beginning of this semester I discovered Netflix’s original series “Orange is the New Black.” I had heard that it was good; however, as I spent the next week watching episode after episode I found that I couldn’t stop watching this amazing show. Finally, after finishing both seasons of the show I returned to life and the work that I had been neglecting while catching up on this show.
Binge watching television shows online has drastically changed how people consume and watch media; however, what I find interesting in the example of Netflix (and also some shows on Amazon) is that these shows were not aired on television originally. Instead shows such as Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black,” “House of Cards” and Amazon’s “Transparent” were produced by these online companies to create exclusive content for there streaming services. The creation of these online only television shows; however, is not the only unique aspects of these shows. Media has long tried to minimize the risk of the massive investment that it takes to create a show or movie; however, Netflix and Amazon were able to go one step further than traditional media companies in producing these shows as they had access to the viewing habits of all the users of their services. Therefore, these shows were made to succeed by collecting together all the ratings, views, and interests of all of the films streamed on these platforms. In other words, every time I binge watch a show on Netflix, I provide them with more information from which they can try to create new content that I will further binge watch, helping Netflix succeed. While this is not problematic (and I really enjoy the shows that are being produced), its also interesting to think about how by mining the data about my viewing habits Netflix is then able to provide me (or point me to) more shows that will keep me on Netflix.
Digital Media Theory 
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