The television is on but is anybody at home?

Now that TV can be watched on various devices, at any time, anywhere, the TV schedule should be extinct – but it’s a stubborn survivor

TECHNOLOGY IS hard to predict at any time, but couple that with the fickleness of human behaviour and it’s an almost impossible task. Although it might seem that things move ever forward, some technologies, such as vinyl and landline phones, remain stubbornly popular.

When TiVo first appeared in American homes, viewers had the option to record an entire series at the touch of a button, to pause live TV as it happened, and to have shows suggested to them based on what they’d watched before. A variation on TiVo, the digital video recorder (DVR), is now common in Irish homes.

Now that we no longer have to run home to catch our favourite shows, and don’t need stacks of VHS tapes, you would think this would herald the demise of prime-time viewing, but that hasn’t come to pass.

Despite being surrounded by DVDs, DVRs and game consoles (some of which can accommodate DVDs, blu-rays and online viewing), 1.4 million viewers watched the most recent Late Late Toy Show, making it the most-watched television programme in 17 years. And, whatever you may think of Fade Street, it does suggest that online viewing doesn't diminish the TV audience: the second season was streamed on the RTÉ Player 69,000 times in a 10-day period, and had peak TV viewing of 100,000, down only 14,000 from the first season.

“Understanding the speed at which this market is changing is paramount,” says Mary Curtis, head of digital at RTÉ television. “Online and mobile consumption of content is growing. But this growth has not displaced traditional media as some had predicted. Despite the increases in online and mobile usage, despite the arrival of social media, consumption of television in Ireland is actually growing. Year on year people are now spending more time watching television – not less.”

Stephen Grant, director of online for TV3, also believes that online and traditional broadcast complement one another: "For TV shows, the vast majority of people's viewing online and on DVRs is close to broadcast [time]," he says. "Popular shows online match those on-air. The top five shows on TV3's 3player in December 2011 were Emmerdale, Coronation Street, X Factor, The Apprenticeand Tallafornia, very similar to the top five on-air."

Jonathan Friedland is vice-president of global communications for Netflix, an online, subscription-based TV service that recently launched in Ireland. Even though companies such as Netflix have virtually replaced the videoshop in the US, he says: "Regular TV is still the place people go for sports, the news, and shows like American Idol, which are communal. But anything that's more evergreen is more likely to be individually watched [online] at people's convenience."

Like any popular innovation, change is affected both by technological advances and by public demand. The so-called “watercooler” moments – gathering around to discuss TV with acquaintances – still exist, but not in the same way.

“We’ve been focused on integrating social media with the viewing experience and helping personalise it,” says Friedland. “With the [Netflix] service you can connect it to Facebook and that’s a start for a great conversation. These continue the watercooler but in a different context.”

Philippe Brodeur is the director of Aertv, a free streaming service provided by broadband provider Magnet Networks, through which you can watch Irish TV live online and link it in with your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Brodeur says: “TV is enjoying a renaissance thanks to social media. Ultimately, it’s all about events – social media has made TV interactive and that’s what being social is all about.”

The interactivity he refers to can be seen across all genres of TV. During the broadcast debut of one of TV3's most talked about shows, Tallafornia, the hashtag #Tallafornia was trending worldwide on Twitter.

Brodeur believes that TV scheduling is not just about what time the show is broadcast, but what trimmings are being offered: “No longer are schedules just a weekly listings – they include letting potential audiences know about when the show’s writer will be tweeting prior to the screening, what you can win in the Facebook competition when the show is finished, and how you can follow the characters between episodes.”

This includes fictitious TV characters such as Watson in BBC1's Sherlock Holmeshaving a real-life blog to read between episodes. And there have been communal online discussions of films during their broadcast – such as Jon Ronson discussing the film adaptation of his book The Men Who Stare at Goatson Twitter during its BBC2 showing.

Grant sees the value in TV3's traditional scheduling. "We schedule with a view to bringing the best audience possible for a show and building on the key fixed points in the schedule like Corrieor Emmerdale," he says.

“For our viewers, broadcast is still the place to watch TV shows as people love the shared viewing experience and watching the same shows, at the same time as their friends. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter actually deepen this experience as people can now comment in real time with lots of people instead of having to wait until the next day.”

TV viewing habits are slow to change: we continue to crowd around the telly at the same time and gossip about what’s on, but the living room and watercooler just look a little different.