My partner and I recently discovered the Adult Swim website where we could stream the new season of Rick and Morty (2013) online and within the space of two days we had watched the entire second season. Rick and Morty is an animated adult cartoon series based on the characters of The Doc and Marty from Back to the Future (1985). It contains dark humour and engaging intergalactic and interdimensional adventures. We watched the entire season not only because we enjoy the show, but due to the automatic play function on the Adult Swim website. The auto play function lines up the next video and begins playing it immediately after the conclusion of the previous episode. This is similar to the auto play function on the YouTube website which lines up content and starts playing it automatically after you have watched a video. YouTube also championed the “30 second autoroll ads” which play advertisements automatically prior to a clip starting (Ramsay 2009). This combination of auto play and autoroll advertisements is similar to the constant nature of scheduled texts and advertisements on television.
The YouTube and Adult Swim websites have implemented a sense of “flow”, originally defined by Raymond Williams in 1974, then redefined in 2003 as the transition from advertising being thought of as an interruption to programming to the concept of advertising and texts being interwoven into a “planned flow” which included the creation of trailers for upcoming programs on commercial television. (Williams & WIlliams 2003, pp. 90-91). Originally the idea of flow was applied to theatrical performances, where the breaks were a natural part of the performance and then to the use of advertisements being interwoven with texts on television. The concept of planned flow however can also be applied to video streaming websites such as YouTube as the algorithms on YouTube select what videos will play next, therefore exercising some control over the viewing experience.
The use of flow is successful on the Adult Swim website not only because of the auto play function, but also because of the way the episodes themselves are structured. Episodes begin with an inciting incident or the opening credits and after the conclusion of the main narrative, the credits roll. Instead of leaving the website, my partner and I keep watching so that we can watch the post credits scene. This scene increases the chance that people will watch till the end of the clip and continue on to the next video. The end credit sequence has also been implemented in cinema. Marvel films for example are linked together by post credits scenes that contain new narrative information, possibly alluding to the next film within that series. This is a marketing tool as it is a trailer for the next film that will come out and in this case the promotion for the next film begins right at the end of the previous one. The post credits scene is implemented in Rick and Morty for slightly different reasons. The post credits sequences in Rick and Morty often conclude one piece of narrative information that was left unresolved, therefore fully resolving the episode and often leaving the audience wanting more. The post credits scene and the use of auto play on the Adult Swim website provide a sense of flow that encourages viewers to stay on the website and to keep watching.
Short end credits are also a factor in keeping audiences on the website. End credits on television are quite short so that more texts and advertisements can be scheduled. The BBC website states that credits must be between “25 – 30 seconds”. The end credits in Rick and Morty follow this structure and are around 30 seconds in total. Therefore increasing the chance that people will sit through the credits in order to get to the post credits scene.
The commercial aspect of the Adult Swim website includes the melding of free media content and paid content that can only be accessed with a subscription. Therefore, once you have watched a few of the episodes and spend time on the website, the last episodes are blocked and ask you to register or sign in to one of the many cable providers to continue watching. This is a way to hook consumers into spending time on their website, while also ensuring that the potential for commercial profit is available.
References
Back to the Future, 1985, Universal Pictures, Universal City, California.
BBC 2015, Credits and branding, BBC, viewed 17 October 2015, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/production/articles/credits-branding-trademarks>.
Ramsay, F 2009, YouTube takes on TV, Haymarket Business Publications Ltd, London.
Rick and Morty, 2013, Adult Swim, Atlanta, Georgia.
Williams, R & Williams, E 2003, Television: Technology and Cultural Form, Routledge, New York and London.
