Webisodes

A webisode is an episode of a series that is distributed as web television. It is available as either for download or in streaming, as opposed to first airing on broadcast or cable television. The format can be used as a preview, a promotion, as part of a collection of shorts, or a commercial. A webisode may or may not have been broadcast on TV. What defines it is its online distribution on the web, or through video-sharing web sites such as Vimeo or YouTube. While there is no set standard for length, most webisodes are relatively short, ranging from 3–15 minutes in length. It is a single web episode, but collectively is part of a web series, a form called web television that characteristically features a dramatic, serial storyline, where the primary method of viewership is streaming online over the Internet. The term webisode (a portmanteau formed from the words 'web' and 'episode') was first introduced in the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary in 2009.

Webisodes have become increasingly common in the midst of the post-broadcast era, which implies that audiences are drifting away past free-to-use television design. The Post-Broadcast era has been influenced by new media formats such as the internet. Contemporary trends indicate that the Internet has become the dominant mechanism for accessing Media Content. In 2012, the Nielsen Company reported that the number of American households with television access has diminished for the second straight year, showing that viewers are transitioning away from broadcast television. The post-broadcast era is best defined as embodiment by a complex mediascape that cannot be maintained by broadcast television; in its wake, the popularity of webisodes has expanded because the internet has become a potential solution to television's ailments by combining interpersonal communication and multimedia elements alongside entertainment programing.

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