Has Streaming Killed the TV Moment?流媒體已取代傳統電視？

Traditional viewing is in terminal decline—but we’re more passionate about our favourite shows than ever.

傳統電視節目的收視率一蹶不振，但我們觀看節目的熱情空前高漲。

EastEnders1 was what might once have been referred to as a classic of the soap opera genre.

《東區人》似乎曾被稱為肥皂劇中的經典之作。

The actor who plays Freddie， Bobby Brazier， is the son of Jeff Brazier2 and the late Jade Goody3.

飾演弗雷迪的演員博比·布雷齊爾是杰夫·布雷齊爾和已故的杰德·古迪的兒子。

Brazier’s performance was first class， surrounded by concerned EastEnders veterans， watching nervously for his character’s welfare.

布雷齊爾的表演堪稱一流。他身邊圍著一群憂心忡忡的《東區人》老演員， 他們都緊張兮兮地關注著布雷齊爾所飾角色的安危。

It may well pick up trophies.

這個角色很可能得獎。

Yet one important ingredient was missing， to alchemise Freddie Slater into a true fictional totem of his times： a massive audience.

然而，要將弗雷迪·斯萊特這個虛構角色打造成他所在時代的真正標志，缺少一個重要因素：龐大的觀眾群。

The average time spent watching TV in Britain is down a hefty 12 per cent， from 2.59 hours a day in 2021 to 2.38 hours in 2022. We know that young people have drifted away from traditional television shown at regular intervals on a prearranged schedule.

英國人看電視的平均時長大幅下降12%，從2021年的每天2.59小時減少到2022年的每天2.38小時。我們都知道，年輕人已經逐漸遠離按預定時間表定時播放的傳統電視節目。

We probably could have guessed that TikTok’s share of the non-traditional broadcast market has spiked， averaging a peak hour a day for teenagers. But the old folk have joined in now， too. For the traditional 65+ market， who have kept the life raft afloat for soaps for well over a decade， traditional TV viewing is down 10 per cent. While BBC1 is still comfortably the most watched channel on TV， pensioners have caught the bug4 for streaming rivals.

或許我們都能猜到，在非傳統的節目播放市場上，TikTok的份額急劇增長，平均每天都有長達一個小時的青少年收視高峰。現在，老年人也已加入其中。守舊的65歲以上人群10多年來一直支撐著肥皂劇的救生筏，但如今這一群體觀看傳統電視節目的收視率下降了10%。雖然英國廣播公司第一臺依舊穩坐收視率最高電視臺的寶座，但是領退休金的老人們已經開始沉迷于電視臺的競爭對手——流媒體。

Disney+ alone has seen a sizable seven per cent increased share among this age bracket.

僅迪士尼的流媒體平臺在65歲以上年齡段的市場份額就大幅增長了7%。

The fresh statistics showed two major patients sitting limp in the waiting room of TV’s truest gauge of success： soap operas and news bulletins.

最新的統計數據顯示，在最能判定電視節目成功與否的候診室里，坐著兩位無精打采的重癥病人——肥皂劇和新聞簡報。

Where once a major event on a soap could draw an audience of up to 20 million， shows reaching an audience of more than four million have halved in the last decade， to just over 200 in 2022.

曾經，肥皂劇中的關鍵情節可以吸引多達2000萬觀眾，而在過去10年中，觀看人數超過400萬的節目減少了一半，2022年只有200多檔。

The big winners are royal events such as Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and the King’s Coronation， live inter-national football fixtures5 and unusual upswing in interest in the Eurovision Song Contest6.

最大的贏家是英國王室活動，如女王伊麗莎白二世的葬禮和國王的加冕典禮；還有定期直播的國際足球比賽，以及關注度異常高漲的歐洲電視網歌唱大賽。

Outside these occasions， we are looking squarely at the death of television as a shared， communal crowd-puller.

在這幾種重大場合之外，我們正目睹電視作為吸引眾人聚集一堂的媒介漸漸消亡。

The outlook is bleak for old screen habits， which now look to be in terminal decline， robbing us of those collective dramatic moments which helped gauge the mood. TV was once the medium which effortlessly crossed class and age， embracing all in its butterfly net.

過去慣用的觀看方式前景黯淡，現在看來正走向末路，我們因此失去了有助于激發情緒的集體觀劇時刻。電視曾是一種毫不費力就能跨越階層和年齡的媒介，能將所有人“一網打盡”。

Every other day， still， I’ll take a call from my mum and， with metronomic regularity， the third question， post “How are you？” and “What are you having for your tea？” will be “So， what are you watching then？”

每隔一天，我仍會接到媽媽的電話。在“你好嗎？”和“下午茶吃了什么？”之后，第三個問題就是“你在看什么節目？”非常有規律。

There is always common ground. We’ve both been avidly watching The Sixth Commandment on BBC iPlayer， the exceptional dramatic retelling of the real-life calculated murderer， Ben Field.

我們總是有共同話題。我們都熱衷于在英國廣播公司的流媒體平臺上觀看《第六誡》。這部劇對現實生活中的蓄意殺人犯本·菲爾德進行了非常精彩的戲劇性重述。

There will more than likely be a brief interlude from her on a preposterous dress worn by a minor character on And Just Like That...， Sky’s extension of the Sex and the City brand， which she picks up on Now TV.

我媽媽非常有可能會插一兩句嘴，說天空電視臺的《就這樣……》中有個配角穿了條可笑的裙子，不過她是在電視臺旗下的流媒體平臺上看的這部《欲望都市》衍生劇。

Now， there is a Netflix show or two added into the chatter， too. Well into her eighties， she understands the workings of non-terrestrial TV like a teenager.

如今，我和媽媽閑聊時也會提起一兩個奈飛的節目。雖然年過八旬，但我媽媽像十幾歲的孩子一樣了解非地面網播平臺的運作方式。

A movement in viewing habits has been discernible from Ofcom findings since the dawn of the streaming age.

自流媒體時代開始以來，從英國通信管理局的調查結果中可以看出觀看習慣的變化。

For over a decade our habits have atomised to more nuanced and personal schedules. The idea of a set time for a set show has disintegrated， with catch-up options adding to the palette of screen options.

十多年來，我們的觀看習慣已經分化，節目單趨于細致、個性化。隨著屏幕菜單欄中增加了“點播”選項，在固定時間觀看固定節目的觀念已經瓦解。

For soaps and the news， there are obvious reasons for declining viewership.

對肥皂劇和新聞節目來說，收視率下降的原因顯而易見。

The plethora of 24-hour news programming first dented the idea of set bulletins at set times. Audiences diminished.

過多的24小時新聞節目首先削弱了在固定時間播出固定新聞節目的觀念。觀眾因此而減少。

Now news can be felt in real time on the phone， with the ping of a social app.

如今，只要社交軟件的提示音一響，人們就能從手機上實時知曉新聞。

The dominance of social media has fed into how we react to drama.

社交媒體的主導地位已經影響了我們對電視劇的反應。

The massive improvement in budget and quality of dramas like Succession have come to dominate online conversation.

《繼承之戰》等電視劇在預算和質量上的大幅提升已經成為網絡熱議的話題。

Another Sky show， The Idol， which garnered relatively small viewing figures， was perhaps the most talked about TV show， for all the wrong reasons， a psychosexual potboiler which has been routinely denounced on socials.

天空電視臺播放的另一部劇《偶像漩渦》雖然收視率相對低迷，但可能是討論度最高的電視劇，可惜這討論度純屬罵出來的——這部“黃”爛劇在社交網絡上經常遭到譴責。

Catching a fever for airing an opinion for something on TV is no longer the terrain of critics or industry folk. It is a new national sport.

激情澎湃地就電視節目發表意見已不再是評論家或業內人士的專利。這是一項新的全民運動。

One of the most frequently asked questions on socials is for viewing recommendations.

社交媒體上最常問起的就是有什么推薦的節目。

The paucity of event shows has somehow spread its own spider’s web of interest in TV as a genre. The obvious analogy is with music， which is streamed everywhere， from endless libraries of every song imaginable， yet greeted with investment sales of products that are rapidly vanishing.

轟動性節目的匱乏像蜘蛛網一般擴散，某種程度上影響了人們整體上對電視的興趣。一個明顯的類比是音樂產業——無限大的曲庫收錄了人們能想到的所有歌曲，大街小巷播放的音樂都源自其中，但實體音樂產品的投資銷售卻在迅速消失。

Perhaps a special TV show which captures the interest of a nation while incubating a relatively small audience is the new buying a vinyl copy of your favourite record from a specialist shop？

也許，觀看一檔既能引起全國關注又能培養一小群受眾的特別節目，就像重新走進專賣店去購買你最喜歡的那張黑膠唱片？

Amid the doomy Ofcom findings， there are nuggets of excitement. The BBC drama， The Tourist， starring Jamie Dornan， was among the top 10 most viewed shows of 2022.

在英國通信管理局不樂觀的調查結果中，也有令人興奮的小插曲。由杰米·多南主演的英國廣播公司電視劇《旅人》躋身2022年收視率最高的10部電視劇之列。

It was smart， witty and looked sensational， not just because of an unusual-ly photogenic and gifted cast.

這部劇的劇情機智、詼諧，看著非常精彩，而不僅僅是因為演員們極其上鏡、演技精湛。

That appetite for the old element of fantasy and escapism TV offered is still there， despite the kicking doled out to contents that look a little too close to real lives.

盡管對稍顯過于貼近現實生活的內容頗有微詞，但人們對電視提供的老派幻想和消遣方式依然感興趣。

The message of the statistics seems to be that there is plenty of that elsewhere. The shift from entertainment beamed into your living room to the screen in the corner， to entertainment beamed out of it， from the screen in your lap， is not quite with us yet.

統計數據所傳達的信息似乎是，其他地方也有很多人依舊愛看電視。人們不再用客廳角落里的電視觀看娛樂節目，轉而用筆記本電腦觀看——這樣的轉變還沒有完全實現。

1英國肥皂劇《東區人》于1985年2月17日首播，持續至今。這部劇講述了住在倫敦東部沃爾福德區（Borough of Walford）的居民的故事。" 2英國電視節目主持人。" 3英國“真人秀”明星，2009年因宮頸癌去世。

4 bug熱衷；著迷。" 5 fixture（定期定點舉行的）體育活動。

6歐洲廣播聯盟（European Broadcasting Union）主辦的歌唱比賽，自1956年開始每年舉辦一屆，是目前全球規模最大的歌唱類比賽。