‘Heroes’ Producer Recognizes Benefits of BitTorrent
Here is some ‘feel good’ news for all you readers. It’s from a July 2 article at torrentfreak, a site I frequent for news about the torrent world.
Half of the people who use BitTorrent do so to download TV-shows. Some episodes of popular shows such as ‘Heroes’ and ‘Lost’ get up to 10 million downloads. We had a chat with Jesse Alexander, the co-producer of both ‘Heroes’ and ‘Lost’, and asked him what his thoughts are on BitTorrent, piracy and the future of TV.
Jesse Alexander has co-produced and written for both ‘Heroes’ and ‘Lost’, two of the most successful TV-series today. In addition to millions of viewers on TV, both shows are are also extremely popular on BitTorrent. In fact, millions of people share a single episode and this can go on to 10 million downloads per episode.
One could argue that their availability on BitTorrent actually helped ‘Lost’ and ‘Heroes’ to build a stronger fanbase. With torrents, no-one has to miss an episode anymore which keeps the fans more engaged. So called “pirates” advertise the shows to their friends, or write about it on their blogs. Accordingly, when we asked Jesse Alexander whether he thinks that BitTorrent might have helped to reach a broader audience, he answered with a clear cut “Yes”.
Not that Jesse wants everybody to get the shows off BitTorrent, but he said that it certainly signals that there is a market for on-demand and interactive TV. “People watching shows such as Lost and Heroes on BitTorrent is the present world reality,” Jesse told TorrentFreak. TV networks have to recognize this, give their viewers more ways to interact with the shows, and find ways to generate revenue from every member of the global audience.”
“It’s the same for music artists. The reality is, people share music. Artist now make money by driving people to concerts, through community websites, and by offering exclusive events. TV networks are focusing too much on one exclusive product, instead of building a community. This is a mistake I think.”
The success of Heroes on BitTorrent didn’t pass by the cast of the show unnoticed either. “The cast and the people behind the scenes have all been talking about it,” Jesse said. As an example he mentioned last year’s promotional tour in France, where the actors were recognized by hundreds of fans, even though the show had not even premiered on TV yet.
Alexander has hit the nail on the head. This is in fact one of the main reasons why shows like ‘Heroes’ are so popular on filesharing networks. It can take up to six months after the US premiere before these shows are aired in Europe, Australia and other parts of the world. Jesse agreed that this is indeed one of the major causes of piracy. “This gap is something that is certainly going to change in the future,” he added.
Jesse went on to say that in the near future, thanks to the Internet, the viewers of TV-shows will see more interactive components and alternate realities they can participate in. The future of TV will be more international, with real interaction, and shows will be more and more integrated into the core part of an online community.
When we asked Jesse if he has ever downloaded TV-shows off BitTorrent, he told us: “I can’t confirm or deny, but I’m familiar with all kind of new technologies.” I guess we all know what he’s trying to say.
It is no surprise that Jesse is more positive towards new technologies than some others in the entertainment industry. Last week we reported on the upcoming “Pirate TV” show that he is working on, together with Matt Mason, the author of ‘The Pirate’s Dilemma’.
“Matt’s book needs to get a broader audience,” said Jesse. “We want to discuss the negative and the positive side of piracy, and place things in a broader historical context. We want to start a real conversation about the future of intellectual property.”
We’re happy to join the debate, what about you?
Comments(41)
good info and good job!
Torrent or to rent
At last, a TV executive with a brain!
these shows are for reality losers
At least the guy admits it’s not bad!
That’s great, but how exactly do any companies make money from this large “community” that they build? People downloading TV shows off torrents give zero income to the producers of the shows.
Look at Battlestar Galactica, one of the most popular sci-fi shows ever, and loved by millions of fans. The show is still being cancelled after four seasons (and the writers are wrapping up the storyline because of that).
A big fan base doesn’t means squat if you don’t make money from them.
If the execs were half bright, they would prepare torrent versions of their own shows themselves. These would have advertising strips along the top, bottom or sides that would occasionally appear. Switching the position would take account of on-screen action and also discourage re-encoding by TV-rip groups. And, of course, they should release the torrent at the same time as the first TV airing in the US or Canada, or even before. Releases should include both the regular and 720p versions. Such releases will obviously be the first to appear, be of guaranteed quality and would then probably account for the majority of downloads for a given show.
Obviously, TV-rip groups will continue to provide commercial-free releases, but they will arrive later and be subject to the usual vagaries of the genre. In fact, the attraction may even fade to nothing if the “official” releases capture a massive majority of the DL’s.
How show producers would present the deal to advertisers is a subject of debate of course. Only brands with international presence would be concerned, so you wouldn’t see commercials for Tide and you might for Pepsi. The demographic would probably be of appeal to advertisers as well. 10 million downloads per show, seen by, say, 3 people each… that makes an audience of 30 million of a certain type of world consumer. Gotta be something going there.
And of course, you can expect to be informed where you can DL the commercial-free “official” version at super high speed for a small fee… and get it by the time the show airs on TV, or before.
Just a question of time…
there are many alternative ways of they could get an income..how about they sell hd or dvd version of the episodes with uncut version or director’s commentary or behind the scene not found in the torrents. Not found until some of them are sold over retailers. Or if a a fan of this show buys their stuff, he or she may get a chance to win a prize or have the DVD case with signatures of a actor, or a chance to be part of an episode in lost. There are many ways. There is always another possible way for every impossible thought imagined.
If the execs ever wanted to ‘do it right’ they should ask me, lol I could do it if they payed well.
@6 Brian
BSG is not being canceled. It was a decision made by Ronald Moore and the rest of the producers (at the beginning of season 3) that the 4th season would be the last one. And imo they did the right thing. It’s better for a show to end when it’s still popular and watchable than to last for several seasons and become finally boring (Prison Break).
And on the subject, finally a producer that sees not only the negative but also the positive things of the distribution of the shows in the net.
The torrent provides awareness to a certain series or product thats the bottomline, and this awareness makes fans out of it, fans who would buy the series because they love it, which increases the revenue.
good show
P2P is for turds.
lol mr x relegated to tech news duty
as sc0rff handles all other releases
hehehe
I have suspected for some time, that TV Networks are finally coming to grips with Torrents. Numerous times, I have seen pilot’s of TV Shows on the Torrent sites, months before the pilot has even aired. Not to mention, the last two episodes of Season 2 of Dexter, were on the Torrent sites, before they aired. An attempt, to hype up the season finalle, possibly. Whether I’m right or wrong, it’s true that Torrents have closed the gap on International TV. I was watching Torchwood, and Jeckyl, before anyone had heard of them. I have also watched Charlie Jade, which is just now getting ready to air on Sci-Fi. On demand, is a great way to watch TV. But until these gaps are filled, and the technology of On Demand catches up, people will rely on Torrents, and buying DVD’s of there favorite shows. Were all entirely to busy, to sit down at certain times, and watch are shows when they originally air. Before torrents, if I missed more than a couple of episodes of any given show, I would stop watching that show all together. The problem with On Demand as of now, is that it’s not 100% reliable. Providers of On Demand know this. When they get serious about updating there hardware, and networks, they may just find what they have been missing out on, the Consumer. We don’t download, to cheat the system, or rip off anyone. We do it, to preview a product. If we like it, we buy it. If we don’t like it, were not out of pocket. That’s the biggest reason I quit buying movies on DVD. The quality Hollywood has been pumping out over the last decade, is sickening. Give me the option, of having a receiver, with a Terabyte Drive, and paying $1.00 per episode, with picture and sound quality as good as a torrent, that is commercial free, and the abilty to watch as many times as I want, until I delete it, and I’m in. Until then, count me out, and I’ll stick to my Torrnts. Besides, we actually do a service for the industry. Advertising by word of mouth, on programs, we like. I have turned alot of people onto shows, they would have normally never watched. Many times, because they had never heard of them, and knew nothing about them. I would gladly pay $7-8 to be able to stream a movie that is playing at a local theater. I hate going to the movies, this day and age. No one knows how to act, at the Theater anymore. I have almost gotten into fist fights on several occasions, with a few idiots. I am against those who download movies, and sell them for profit. Or download all there music for free. If that’s your thing, then you run the risk of getting caught, and facing consequences for your actions. But downloading a couple of movies, and TV Shows, should not be considered an attack on the industry. Fix the problem, and we would be happy to comply.
@6 Brian
thats not true, if you think about it you aren’t paying anything to them when you are watching it on tv either, the truth is that there is a lot of ways to generate income, for one building a larger fanbase is always good, there will be always people willing to buy the dvds and other series related products like games, also if they manage to use a system where they can deliver the episodes fast enough to everybody they can make fortunes with ads, be it on websites or even the video itself
me for example, i wouldn’t mind to download the latest heroes episode with ads on it if it comes fast (preferably on the same day is aired), and a big plus would be to include legends (not everyone speaks and understands english), but thats probably asking too much
The whole thing with the owl and o rly is so stupid. Why did most people get into that crap?
First,people who wanna make p2p “official” should note use the term “piracy”. It scares people, especially the business people.
This guy is doing a good job by using “technology”.
And there are lot of tv shows you can watch for free now, but with streaming video and usually only in US (there was a news few weeks back about Veoh hosting full tv shows for free. Dont know how it works, I’m not in US.
You can watch SouthPark for free, from anywhere…etc)
This means that production companies recognized that big fan base means profit.
Hey, Mr. X,
‘The 9/11 Chronicles Part One: Truth Rising‘
is out from prisonplanet.tv
Any chance for posting it?
For me over here in germany torrents were the only way to see TV-Shows in english for the last few years. And now the german TV-Stations are slowly catching on and offering two-channel-broadcasts with the dubbed and original version simultaniously. And – they´re getting closer to the release dates – FOX is showing the first season of REAPER and the fourth of LOST right now – so there´s no reason for me anymore to download this shows anymore.
And for the (good) comment about how the producers are making money fron shws the fans are downloading via BT – well, as soon as the boxed sets are available I mostly buy them and trash my downloaded episodes. So they will get there money from me (even if its later) as long as they are producing shows that are worth it.
If he sees it as a positive and a negative then why not, 2 days or so after the air date upload the TV-Show onto their own public tracker and allow people to download it to grow the fanbase? This then becomes their decision to share it on one of the fastest growing ways to download things and becomes totally LEGAL as the producers and cast all agreed to share it and of course with BitTorrent they can track how many people download it thus expanding their viewer count even more!
Although i prefer sites like Rapidshare/netload Torrent used to be my way of getting files and i would go back to it knowing it was from a secure tracker run by the producers of the show.
Thank you
Please correct me if I am wrong.
The process usually works by networks buying a TV show either by a block of episodes or by a season. It is this money which the producers get in pocket. The networks in their agreement then also need to pay them a small royalty for every time the show is played after the first time it is aired.
with that in mind would it not be in the producers best interest to try and cut out the networks all together. I mean looking at the straight stats you can pull on torrent downloads to back your pitch. Heroes gets 10 million downloads alone per ep. and that is when it is deemed illegal. Think of all those people who simply wont do it because they fear prosecution could spike that number 10 15 million. I for one would be open to and welcome a 440 MB banner driven AD episode guaranteed to be top quality.
Google could this be your next advertising venture…team up with TV producers to cut out the networks….hrmmm
well put point lifeless ^^
Wouldn’t it be a much better world if all media execs were as enlightened as this one?
It is so obvious that availability of media including movies and music on the web actually drives folk to venturing out of their basements and into the cinemas and concert halls.
Its free advertising the with a value that they can’t pay for.
Heck! They should be paying us for downloading the stuff.
Someone should come up with a fee structure to charge the media companies for the advertising we generate.
This debate has been going on for years now. Only, it hasn’t been in the west, but in the east with anime(Most notably, Japan). The exact same arguments and the exact same effects.
The debate have been going on for several years wether or not it hurts the industry by giving downloaders inofficial permission to download the episodes. There is a silent and very unofficial agreement between fansubbers and anime producers that as long as the shows are not being licensed in the west, the shows can continue being subtitled and spread since this helps the revenues, spreads the anime to the west and helps the sales of dvd’s when it hits the market in US and EU since it’s already a famous title among the western fans.
Never ever ever watched “The Office”, “Entourage” or “The Tudors” on TV because I would always miss them…
now, I’m hooked on those shows. gg.
One down, still hundreds of thousands to go (including the people who MATTER).
As usual, you’re grasping at straws here. Just keep downloading in the dark, that way it will stay free for all!
I download a lot of stuff from the net. Be it via Rapidshare or any other form. But when I pass by a store and see a game that I have liked so much, I buy it. I dont give a damn abt downloading stuff, and I most certainly dont mind buying stuff either..
What Im trying to say is, if these shows are available to stream online after paying or subscribing, wouldnt it be great? I bet a lot of ppl would do it. I wud!
However,I dont think it is possible, my knowledge of these things being limited. The future of TV is undoubtedly within the Internet as well..its time they make use of it.
Hey lets get real here.. We all know we are doing wrong really but hey if your as bored as hell cannot be bothered to go and rent whatever it is you like… Then hey your going to download it! We shouldn’t do we know that.. But until the technology is out there we are going to carry on. 90% of what most of us download is rubbish we download it for the sake of it.. But if you really want something and its really worth it 90% of us really go out and purchase what ever it is. The only thing that i think should be (should) available is soaps and stuff what is on every week. I think most of what the Limeys get now thet get the first sample of it via a download of some description.. Regards all
As i live in the UK downloading American tv shows (also by far the best) is the only way i can get to see many of them unless i want to wait weeks if not months or not at all in some cases, i for one will continue to download tv shows and i don’t care how “illegal” it is, the quality of the shows available is very good and i don’t have to sit through 20 mins or more of crap adverts, a big thanks to anybody who uploads these shows and there is nothing any of the big networks can do to stop this.
This is all cool but WHERE IS HEROES ????:)
Guys & Gals, using the words pirate & piracy when reffering on users of widely spread applications and systems that don’t even make a penny from the transactions of their users is an insult!
Do I need to remind u which ppl are considered “pirates” in the world of computers…?
At least the guy that was taking the interview should have corrected the co-producer/co-writer on using another word instead…
Ridiculous.-
Well, torrents were ok, until i got a notice from my ISP, so i use links now, ms, rs, mu etc….which, from my friends comments, is faster than torrents, 1 tv show 350 mb takes like 5 mins + extraction…
I find it funny. I tried to spin this idea a year or so ago that would generate some form of revenue from adds, and I was laughed at. Anyway, where’s my movie check?! It’s about time I moved on!
*Geniuses
pirate bay = Public services
Down them all
A tv exec that sees the value of torrents? And the world hasn’t even ended yet. For people living in Aus, torrents or filesharing sites are the only way to see some shows. Most stuff doesn’t come on telly. And torrenting can be good. I randomly download music, games, shows etc and if I like it I then go buy the limited/directors etc editions. And the amount of people that start watching after seeing a show from a torrent… 10 million is a fairly low estimate…
I love reading about this dilemma.
I’ve been using torrents for quite some time for a variety of media. Many friends and acquaintances have asked me how to get what I get. I offer to show them.
Soon it becomes apparent that they either don’t want to put in the time to learn how to do it(”do you really have to do all that?”), can’t grasp the basics (”can’t I just download it and play it in one click?”) or are in fear of the man (”won’t I get caught?”).
Yes, for us privileged few (millions)who have inquiring minds and a thirst to know how to get and use this stuff we will continue to enjoy the fruits. The rest (billions) will pay for it. Ultimately it’s about convenience
Executives fear not, there are plenty of the general populous (stupid people) who will continue to shell out cold hard cash for their productions.
I know the day will come when some smartass will say to the Executives lets start out by renting out FTP servers and sell subscriptions to DL old TV shows in high quality video that can be watched on any type of player that the subscriber owns, we’ll sell them a “one click” style software suite to maipulate the DL’d content(choose a format menu: ipod,DVD,PC,HD/BlueRay, etc.) and as we make money we’ll start offering more current content at a premium.
Some idiot Executive (probably the one who canceled Firefly) will say “but won’t they just make copies and pirate the content?” and the smartass will say “the people who pay for this stuff don’t have the time to learn how to do that, can’t grasp the basics of copying and format changing, or they are worried they’ll get caught. Those who do know what to do, won’t be subscribers because they can get it for free anyway”
P.S. my personal experience in trying to show people how to get the stuff they want has dropout ratio of 10 to 1. It’s probably higher but I gave up teaching people how to do it. It’s been a painful and futile teaching process.
Cheers, I’m thirsty for a beer now….
P.S.S. Yes, I know that Apple is doing something like this already for the “rich” stupid people. They even throw in hard ware (nothing new about that, when it comes to Apple).