By replacing linear, scheduled programming with vast libraries of on-demand content, has the internet toppled the business models and power structures of traditional television for good - or just created a new set of gatekeepers in different packaging?
We're joined by Amanda Lotz - award-winning author, professor, and research leader at Queensland University of Technology's Digital Media Research Centre - whose work on the post-network era makes her one of the world's leading authorities on what the internet did to television, and where it's heading next.
Welcome to Ruined By The Internet? - the show where we examine how technology is shaping modern life - whether we want it to or not.
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In this episode we investigate how on-demand viewing dismantled the traditional broadcast model, examine Netflix's role in reshaping audience expectations and industry metrics, explore what the fragmentation of television means for local content and public broadcasting, and ask whether we're living through a golden age of television - or just an age of overwhelming choice.
00:00 - The evolution of television and how media studies has tried to keep up
03:02 - The internet's impact on traditional broadcast television
05:34 - The post-network era explained: what it means and why it matters
08:12 - How audience behaviour and viewing habits have fundamentally changed
10:34 - The role of technology in reshaping the viewing experience itself
13:21 - Why on-demand viewing was always inevitable, and what that tells us
15:45 - Netflix's influence on the streaming landscape and viewer expectations
18:14 - The Australian broadcasting landscape in a global streaming world
20:41 - How success is measured in a fragmented, algorithm-driven market
25:02 - Understanding Netflix's viewing patterns and what they reveal
27:17 - Traditional broadcasters versus streaming disruption: who survives?
30:59 - Are we really living through a new golden age of television?
33:22 - Local content quotas in Australia: protection or futile resistance?
37:05 - The future of traditional broadcasting: slow decline or reinvention?
42:50 - The evolution of video consumption and where it ends up
Guest links - Amanda Lotz
Website: https://amandalotz.com
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com.au/stores/Amanda-D.-Lotz/author/B001JSDEIW
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adlotz/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/drtvlotz.bsky.social
