There was a lot of talk about the show "Dollhouse" premiering on Fox last week. I didn't watch it (I don't watch TV), but did read about its unimpressive ratings (4.73). Normally, I wouldn't pay much more attention to the show beyond that. However, the show was the most downloaded show on iTunes and the most watched on Hulu. This is an interesting bit of information and really reflects the way scripted TV is heading. Many people believe that iTunes and Hulu (or the Internet) are the future of scripted television.
In response to this, the blog "TV by the Numbers" published this article, which I found really fascinating and it really shows (mathematically) why iTunes and Hulu are a VERY small pieces in a VERY big pie. While I disagreed with some of their math, the point they make is hard to miss - TV Shows make way more money on TV then they do online.
It's not to say, the Internet won't eventually be important to TV. Eventually, the two will merge in the same way that the Internet has merged with video games, cell phones, and many other devices we use. However, this might not be for some time. Meanwhile, The traditional advertising based TV broadcasting format will still be the main concern of TV producers because that's where the money is made.
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