The Streaming Revolution: Netflix, Box Sets, Algorithms, Binge-Watching, and the End of Television as We Knew It

Product Description

Television once belonged to the clock. Families waited for a programme to begin, followed weekly episodes, watched channels in sequence, and accepted the rhythm of adverts, reruns, finales, and schedules. Then the screen changed. Box sets trained viewers to watch whole seasons. Netflix moved from red envelopes to instant streaming. Algorithms learned what people watched. Broadband carried television into apps, tablets, phones, and smart TVs. Binge-watching became normal, studios launched their own platforms, cinemas fought over release windows, advertising returned, and the old cable bundle began to fracture.The Streaming Revolution tells the fact-based story of how television was remade by technology, business, creativity, and changing viewer habits. From DVD rental and prestige drama to global hits, children’s tablet viewing, streaming wars, cord-cutting, labour disputes, and the return of advertising, this book traces the transformation of television from scheduled public ritual to personalised digital library.Written in a clear, narrative, easy-to-read style, it explains how Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Amazon, Disney, Apple, Warner, YouTube, and others reshaped the way the world watches. This is the story of television after television: more convenient, more global, more fragmented, more data-driven, and no longer ruled by the clock.