We “cut the cord” years ago – I honestly don’t remember the last time we had a regular TV signal into our house. It’s fun to call AT&T when we need support on our Uverse account, because most of their call center folks can’t really wrap their heads around how we have a Uverse account with no TV, or what on earth we must watch.
My friend Charlie Schick recently wrote a piece called “TV: Morsels vs Streams” and it’s quite an interesting read. Charlie’s consumption of TV is very similar to mine – while he has TV service with a DVR, we both have trouble understanding how some stations, such as CNN or even the local evening news, stay on the air.
Morselization is very much a thing, despite probably not being an actual word. The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon is a great example. I would self-identify as a ‘fan’ and ‘avid watcher’ of Fallon. However, I’ve never once watched an entire episode. I don’t have a clue how the ‘show’ actually runs. I get all of my Jimmy Fallon views on YouTube, through the various clips of the show that his team posts online. I watch these clips – sometimes repeatedly – and actively share them within my social circles. I talk about them offline. But I’ve never watched an episode.
Some have mused that this is the very reason that Jimmy Fallon does better than some recent late-night shows – he understands morselization very well, and how it can lead to actively engaged fans and viewers.
One of the side-effects of morselization, though, is that long-form content becomes a treat, like an outing to a fancy restaurant. I blow through morsels of content all the time, but I save archives of long-form blog posts (like Charlie’s), and I watch movies that are carefully selected, for one reason or another.
Ricky Cadden 