The news about TV watching is fascinating. Overall viewership is rising, even though I think the business model behind it all (ads) is falling apart. Why is viewing up? I'd say there are three reasons:

• DVRs - if you like a show, it's very, very easy to catch up now. You no longer have to bail on an episodic series because things came up
• The long tail - there's not a large audience for the sorts of things you find on Discovery, the History Channel (et. al.) - but that audience exists. There's simply a wider variety of possible content available now
• It's possible to watch stuff on computers and mobile devices now. Missed an episode? Off to iTunes or Hulu, and you're good to go

What I'm not at all sure about is how this is all going to be paid for in the future. maybe I'm wrong, and broadcast ads will hold up. Either way, it's clear that there's demand for the content itself.

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