For digital television series produced by and for streaming platforms, seeStreaming television.
NH6. Example of a web series, with episode runtimes ranging from 16–20 minutes.
Aweb series, also known asshort form series andweb show,[1][2] is a series of shortscripted ornon-scriptedonline videos released on theInternet (i.e.World Wide Web), generally inepisodic form. A single installment of a web series program can be called awebisode or an episode. The scale of a web series is small and a typical episode can be anywhere from three to fifteen minutes in length (although some may be up to a maximum of 20 minutes).[a][4][5][6] Web series first emerged in the mid-1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s.
Web series are different fromstreaming television series, as the latter are purposed to be watched onstreaming platforms such asNetflix,Amazon Prime Video, orHotstar,[b][16][17] with the streaming services offering original productions made for and by them, as well as acquiring the rights to distribute licensed content.[18][19] The length of a streaming television series episode is thirty to sixty minutes (runtimes can also be longer).[20][21][22] Although the designing of a web series can be similar to that of a television series their development and production does not entail the same financial investment required for a television series.[4][23][5][c] The popularity of some web series, however, have led to them beingoptioned for television.[5][26][27]
Web series differ fromshort-form content in that the latter arevertical videos specifically designed for viewing on smartphones and intended for fast-paced consumption, with runtimes typically ranging from less than one minute to three minutes.[28][29]
In April 1995, "Global Village Idiots", an episode of the reality-based programRox onpublic accesscable television inBloomington, Indiana, was uploaded to the Internet, makingRox the first series distributed via the web.[38] The same year, Scott Zakarin createdThe Spot, anepisodic online story which integrated photos, videos, and blogs into the storyline. Likened toMelrose Place-on-the-Web,The Spot featured a rotating cast of characters playing trendy twenty-somethings who rented rooms in a fabledSanta Monica, California beach house called "The Spot".[39][40]The Spot earned the title of Infoseek's "Cool Site of the Year," an award which later became the Webby.[41][42]
In January 1999,Showtime licensed the animated sci-fi web seriesWhirlGirl, making it the first independently produced web series licensed by a national television network. In February 1999, the series premiered simultaneously on Showtime and online.[43] The character occasionally appeared on Showtime, for example hosting a "Lethal Ladies" programming block, but spent most of her time online, appearing in 100 webisodes.[44]
As broadband bandwidth began to increase in speed and availability, delivering high-quality video over the Internet became a reality. In the early 2000s, the Japaneseanime industry began broadcastingoriginal net animation (ONA), a type oforiginal video animation (OVA) series, on the Internet.[45] Early examples of ONA series includeInfinite Ryvius: Illusion (2000),[46]Ajimu (2001),[47] andMahou Yuugi (2001).[45]
In 2002, Matt Jolly (better known as "Krinkels") released the first episode ofMadness Combat toNewgrounds.[48][49] The series is still ongoing, with the latest episode "Madness Combat 12: Contravention" released onTwitch in September 2024.[50]
In 2003,Microsoft launched MSN Video, offeringNBC-related content.[51][52] Its web seriesWeird TV 2000, a spin-off of the syndicated television seriesWeird TV, featured dozens of shorts, comedy sketches, and mini-documentaries produced exclusively for MSN Video. The video-sharing site YouTube was launched in early 2005, allowing users to share television programs.[53] YouTube co-founderJawed Karim said the inspiration for YouTube first came fromJanet Jackson's role in the 2004Super Bowl incident, when her breast was exposed during her performance, and later from the2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Karim could not easily find video clips of either event online, which led to the idea of a video sharing site.[54]
From 2003 to 2006, many independent web series began to garner and achieve significant popularity, most notably the science fiction series known asRed vs. Blue byRooster Teeth. The series was distributed independently using online portals YouTube andRevver, as well as the Rooster Teeth website, acquiring over 100 million social media views during its run. (Rooster Teeth would eventually create computer-animated web seriesRWBY in 2013.) In 2004, adult animated seriesSalad Fingers was created, which amassed a cult following. The comedy seriesThe Burg, hailed as the internet's first sitcom and starringKelli Giddish andLindsey Broad, rapidly gained an audience and notice from the press before its creators signed a creation deal withMichael Eisner. The dramaSam Has 7 Friends, which ran in the summer and fall of 2006, was nominated for aDaytime Emmy Award, and was temporarily removed from the Internet when it was also acquired by Eisner.[55] In 2004–2005, Spanish producerPedro Alonso Pablos recorded a series of video interviews featuring actors and directors such asGuillermo del Toro,Santiago Segura,Álex de la Iglesia, andKeanu Reeves, which were distributed through his own website.[56][57][58]lonelygirl15,California Heaven, "The Burg", andSamHas7Friends also gained popularity during this time, acquiring audiences in the millions. (Science fiction thrillerlonelygirl15 was so successful that it secured a sponsorship deal withNeutrogena in 2007.)[59]
In 2004, Stewart St. John, executive producer and head writer of 1990s webisodicsThe Spot, revived the brand for online audiences asThe Spot (2.0), with a new cast, and as a separate soap opera onSprint PCS Vision-enabled cell phones, creating the first American mobile phone series.[60][61] St. John and partner Todd Fisher produced over 2,500 daily videos of the mobile soap, driving story lines across platforms to its web counterpart.
In 2007, the creators oflonelygirl15 followed up the series' success withKateModern, acomedy-drama series that debuted onsocial networkBebo, and took place in the same fictional universe as their previous show.[62]Big Fantastic created and produced thesoap operaProm Queen, financed and distributed by Michael Eisner's production firmVuguru, and debuted the series onMySpace.[63] Vuguru partnered withMark Cuban's channelHDNet to releaseAll-for-nots, amockumentary series byThe Burg creators Kathleen Grace and Thom Woodley, which debuted at theSXSW Festival in 2008.[citation needed] These web series highlighted interactivity with the audience in addition to the narrative on relatively low budgets. In contrast, the eight-webisode seriesSanctuary, starring actor/producerAmanda Tapping, cost $4.3 Million to produce. BothSanctuary andProm Queen were nominated for aDaytime Emmy Award.[64] Award-winning producer/directorMarshall Herskovitz created the dramaQuarterlife, which debuted on MySpace and was later distributed onNBC.[65]
Mainstream press began to provide coverage.[75] In the United Kingdom,KateModern ended its run onBebo. Bebo also hosted a six-month-long reality travel show,The Gap Year, produced byEndemol UK,[76] which also made interactive sci-fi dramaKirill forMSN.[77]
DuringMIPCOM in October 2008, MySpace announced plans for a second series and indicated that it was in talks with Australian cable networkFoxtel to distribute their first series on network television. Additionally, MySpace spoke of their plans to produce versions of theMySpace Road Tour reality series in other countries.[78] The emerging potential for success in web video caught the attention of top entertainment executives in America, including former Disney executive Michael Eisner, head of the Tornante Company at the time. Torante's Vuguru subdivision partnered with Canadian media conglomerateRogers Media on October 26, securing plans to produce upwards of 30 new web shows a year. Rogers Media agreed to help fund and distribute Vuguru's upcoming productions, thereby solidifying a connection between old and new media.[79] Web series could be distributed directly from the producers' websites, through streaming services or via online video sharing websites.[80]
TheWebby Awards, established in 1996 by theInternational Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS),[84] and theIndie Series Awards, established in 2009 by We Love Soaps,[85] recognize independently produced comedy, drama, andreality TV entertainment created for the web. In 2009, theInternational Academy of Web Television (IAWTV) was founded with the mission to support and recognize artistic and technological achievements in the digital entertainment industry.[86] It administered the selection of winners for theStreamy Awards, (which awards web series content) in 2009 and 2010.[87][88] Due to the poor reception and execution of the 2010 Streamy Awards, IAWTV decided to halt its production of the award ceremony.[89] The IAWTV followed this decision by forming theIAWTV Awards (which recognize creators, cast, and crew of short form digital series from around the world) in 2012.[90]
^"Today there are more than 60 festivals dedicated to web series around the world, and most of these operate with a requirement for submissions that two or three episodes must have been made, and that episodes run for a maximum of 20 minutes. Some have requirements for episodes to be shorter than 15 minutes."[3]
^Because they are delivered over the Internet, "web series" is the preferred term used in India for streaming television programs, regardless of episodes length.[14][15]
^Quibi, amobile app for short-form streaming that partitioned original content and full-length TV series into segments of 10 minutes or less each, attracted talent from prestige television and film studios. The platform shut down six months after it was launched.[24][25]
^Jadidi, Rime El (September 5, 2023)."The Rise of Short Form Series".Canada Media Fund. RetrievedApril 13, 2024.Today, many consider the term "webseries" to be outdated and instead use "short form series".
^Batty, Craig; Berry, Marsha; Dooley, Kath; Frankham, Bettina; Kerrigan, Susan, eds. (2019). "Writers, Producers and Creative Entrepreneurship in Web Series Development, Steinar Ellingsen, Stayci Taylor".The Palgrave Handbook of Screen Production (1st ed.). London, United Kingdom:Palgrave Macmillan. p. 182.ISBN978-3030217433.
^"Television & Digital Media: Rules & Regulations"(PDF).Canadian Screen Awards. 2024. pp. 28–29.Archived(PDF) from the original on November 9, 2024.In the case where the sum of two episodes is less than 10 minutes of content, the entrant may provide up to 10 minutes total of content (drawn from additional episodes in the entered series)....
^Waterman, D., Sherman, R., & Ji, S. W. (2013). The economics of online television: Industry development, aggregation, and "TV Everywhere". Telecommunications Policy, 37(9), 725–736.
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