Alexandre Pierrin writes in CMF Trends that “Webseries Emerge From the Shadows“.

He points to more web platforms betting on webseries and pouring serious money into their production.

The motivation seems to be capturing mobile viewers with time to kill.

“Millennials are without a doubt the largest consumers of web-based videos. They represent a prime target for television channels seeking to rejuvenate their audiences as well as for major corporations in search of new customers. The Media Technology Monitor estimates that, during the fall of 2016, 80% of Canadians aged 15 to 34 used their smartphone to watch online videos. It’s actually smartphones, and not PCs or tablets, that represent the most commonly used devices by these young adults to view videos on the web.”

One takeaway is that “the 10 x 10-minute format already seems to have become the norm”.

Here’s a list of 2016’s best webseries. Glad to see Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee on it.

My take: certainly, making a series of 10-minute shorts on a shoestring and uploading them to Youtube requires a good idea and a lot of gumption to get it all done. Harder still is attracting an audience to watch. That’s why I’m slightly sceptical about webseries. (For instance, I saw The Guild on Netflix.) But if you do make it online, be wary of bad deals on TV. By the way, my son was making his webseries, Fast Forward Cooking, five years ago.