As a current college student during COVID-19 I, like most, have taken more time out of my day to electronics. For me personally this means more television and social media. I think that once you sit at a computer screen for most of the day it becomes part of your new normal. Just like binge watching your new favorite show. With this my family started to watch a new movie every night. From action to romance to sci-phi. After a while you start to run out of recommendations from friends and have seen everything with your favorite actors and actresses so you have to start branching out.
We used to look up websites that listed "top 10" for each genre until we found Google's "what to watch" site and Youtube's recommended trailers. Google's new "what to watch" site has each member fill out their movie preferences by showing a movie such as "Taken" and you choose like, dislike, or skip. Once you feel like you have completed enough forms you hit done, or continue on, and it shows your new movie recommendations. This alone is really convenient and easy to understand for users but Google provides you with even more. Once your movie selections appear there are popular movies, top picks for you, and movies by genre. Another added benefit of the Google "what to watch" site is that you can pick movies that only come on your streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and many more to make sure you are not over spending.
Some of my favorite movies from Google's What To Watch list have been "6 Underground", "Olympus Has Fallen", "Jason Bourne", "The Equalizer", and "Five Feet Apart".
Now youtube is completely different because most people don't go to their movies and shows section on their website but rather look at the feed on their main screens. I believe that the main reason people can spend hours on youtube is because of their great main screens. You click on one interesting video let's say is 5 minute
s long and that turns into 2 hours based on your curiosity about the links on the side. Same thing happens to me with movie trailers. I will be watching one trailer on my phone and next thing I know I'm taking screenshots of movies for the whole week.
Some movies I have found from YouTube include "Race", "Forever My Girl", "The Hustle", "How to Be Single", "Stomp The Yard", and "Trouble With The Curve".
In general, my views on the media are not set in stone. For me personally it depends on the platform. I do believe that digital banners and social ads work from my buying experience, but I really don't believe much in print. I actually dislike a product more if I see it on a build board. I think that makes the company not very modern because they aren't targeting a primary or secondary audience. Yes they aren't very expensive so they almost can't hurt, but they also aren't very efficient or accurate.
Specifically movie media, I think that advertisements in movie theaters work wonders but at the same time movie tickets are very expensive and take more time than watching a movie at home. With all of the streaming networks it is almost just worth it to wait a few months to see the movie for say $3.99 rather than $14. I think it depends on how important that specific movie is too you and how much you are willing to spend.
Right now with COVID-19 cable and streaming services are taking advantage of our new found free time to get clicks, viewers, and potential new users by moving up release dates. This happened too with the "Last Dance" series about Michael Jordan and the Hamilton musical on Netflix. "The Last Dance" averaged 5.6 million viewers across its 10 episodes making it the most watched ESPN documentary of all time.
When I go back to school this fall, I probably won't continue my trend of watching a movie every night but I will continue to use Google and Youtube to find movies and shows with their new recommendations. Media is definitely changing to be more personalized, but I think it is a benefit.
Rachel, it has been truly terrific working with you this summer. Your outstanding work ethic, wittiness, and insatiable desire to learn will do you very well. Good Luck on what ever lies ahead! whomever and all who work with you in the future are very lucky.