A few years back when Charlie Collier then the president of AMC Networks wrote about the Angola Email List rise of immersive television he singled out his most popular show for attention. Five years after its premiere. The Walking Dead had become one of the most phenomenal success stories in television. It not only drew higher ratings than sports cable’s mainstay but in its third season. it became the first cable show. in history to beat the broadcast networks in the all-important 18-to-49 viewer demographic. In 2016, the premiere episode of the spin-off series Fear the Walking Dead became the most-watched show. Talking Dead a show about the show was the most-watched talk show. Meanwhile ad revenues at the company’s flagship network fueled by demand for the franchise. nearly doubled to an estimated US$500 million between 2010, the year it debuted and 2015.
What would Walt do?
As Collier put it in the online publication ReDef. The series exists on television as a live event for only 16 nights a year but remains an active and vibrant . Fan events panels releases of clips and images ongoing discussions and a strong social presence keep the series very much front and center. Immersive dramas both benefit from and demand this kind of commitment.”
Cover art for The Sea We Swim In: How Stories Work in a Data-Driven World by Frank Rose. shows a pink title beneath stylized neon blue waves. As technology gives rise to an ever-proliferating array of digital media and devices stories are being told. on television online through books and games through physical experiences in the real world. This is deep media and it’s been growing for well over a decade.
Visualizing a zombie platform
But what Collier is describing is much more than a labor-intensive, year-round promo effort.
AMC essentially built an online information exchange around. The Walking Dead a service that fans can use to access information about the show and its characters. Even more importantly to interact with fellow fans. In the process the company created a blueprint for how to transform a television series or any kind of story. A product is made by one group of people for other people to buy or rent or otherwise consume coffee beans for example or a latte gulfemaillist from Starbucks. A platform is. something different. To technologists a platform is a machine like PlayStation or Xbox or a software operating system like macOS . To media and advertising executives platforms are the businesses and technologies they rely on for distribution broadcast cable and mobile.
