Entertainment consumption has been monopolized by streaming services. Quarantine has increased this global obsession and forced larger corporations, like Disney, to move online. New platforms appeal to a wider audience and give way to a modern watching experience.
Ultimately, the lack of activities in quarantine have made streaming services instantly more popular. Variety showed this rise in viewers when examining further data. “About 80% of U.S. consumers now subscribe to at least one paid streaming video service, up from 73% in the pre-COVID-19 survey,” the website reported.
While the virus continues to spread, more people have to stay in quarantine and discover ways to entertain themselves. Online entertainment provides them with a distraction from the daunting world around them.
Without the ability to make money by releasing films in the theatre, Disney premiered their newest Marvel production, “Wandavision,” as a television series on their streaming service Disney Plus.
Disney began distributing a weekly episode of the “Wandavision” series to lure in a new audience. Their streaming platform has gained eight million subscribers since the release of this series. Services such as this have profited off of the eminent rise of viewers since the beginning of the pandemic.
Consumers now have a different approach to watching their favorite shows. “Wandavision,” for example, is a show which allows its audience to observe each episode and theorize about the future storyline.
Many fans collaborate on social media to make connections within the Marvel cinematic universe and “Wandavision.”
Junior Kaylee Allen commented on her love for “Wandavision,” describing the ways in which she reflects on the cinematic experience. “I watch it with my family and we like to guess what’s going to happen next episode,” Allen said.
Compared to the binge-watch culture of Netflix, a new “Wandavision” episode each week fills its audience with anticipation for the following installment. Many favor the television show version of this story as opposed to the movie it might have become without the pandemic.
Senior Reese Lienemann explained her enjoyment with the new formatting of this storyline. “It is definitely better as a series since each episode is a different decade’s famous sitcom. The most recent one had “The Office” theme song and the show was based on Modern Family. I really like this format. It’s not like anything I’ve ever seen before,” she described.
The show incorporates modern characters with different decades to show a passage through time. “Wandavision” fanatics have speculated time travel or multiple realities on TikTok, allowing more to learn of the new show. “I will watch a couple TikToks of people guessing what is going to happen,” Lienemann said. “My mom and I send them to each other.”
Social media allows the audience to make an impact on the show through their response to each episode. Recently, the opinions shared on social media have been involved in the pitch of a new spin-off show to Marvel Studies which stars Jimmy Woo, a character on “Wandavision.”
Adaptations to audiences in quarantine facilitate their need for entertainment and allow companies to flourish. Increasing numbers have shown that streaming platforms will continue to allow creative ideas to attract an immense number of viewers.
