City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2-2016 Developments in Television Viewership Lucile E. Hecht Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/730 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact:
[email protected] DEVELOPMENTS IN TELEVISION VIEWERSHIP by LUCILE E. HECHT A masters’ thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Liberal Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, The City University of New York 2016 © 2016 LUCILE E. HECHT All Rights Reserved ii DEVELOPMENTS IN TELVISION VIEWERSHIP by LUCILE E. HECHT This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Liberal Studies satisfying the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Arts. Giancarlo Lombardi ___________________ ______________________________ Date Thesis Adviser Matthew Gold ___________________ ______________________________ Date Executive Officer THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract DEVELOPMENTS IN TELEVISION VIEWERSHIP by Lucile E. Hecht Adviser: Professor Giancarlo Lombardi In recent years the ways in which we watch television has changed, and so has the television we watch. “Binge watching,” almost the Oxford English Dictionary’s Word of the Year in 2013, has taken a firm hold on the American television audience who now watches television not according to the broadcast schedule but on its own terms. So, too, has the practice of engaging with other audience members, be they friends, family, or strangers, while watching a show by using a secondary device – a “second screen.” These practices have been developing for some time, and as technology adapts to facilitate them the denizens of television viewers now consider them normal.