Western society is becoming increasingly easy to amuse. Who needs to move or leave the house when all the amusement you could ever want is at your finger tips?
Recognizing the growing number of easily-amused members of our society, cheese-maker Tom Calver set up (and gained astounding publicity for) the website Cheddarvision in January of this year.
If you haven't heard, the aptly named site is a live broadcast of cheese. Yes, cheese, cheddar cheese to be precise. What does it do? Nothing. What should new visitors expect? Disappointment, and likely amusement at the fact that Calver has been able to get so much trafficâ€"over 800,000 visitors in only three months.
Go to cheddarvision.tv to see for yourself. You won't find a lot more than a single 44lb brick of aging cheddar cheese. What's the point? To watch the maturation process, of course. The highlight so far? The label fell off the cheese once and had to be replaced. To meet users' desire for more interaction, Calver is asking viewers to nominate a name for the cheese.
There is more information available to us than ever before, and drastically more entertainment to choose from. When we can choose to view sites on millions of topics, anything our hearts desire, hundreds still choose to view The Cheese. How can this be?
Believe it or not, the site is not the first of its kind. Topping the ranks of these sites would have to be watching-paint-dry.com, a site that allows you to do just that.
That's enough thought expenditure for one day though. If you'll excuse me, I have to install a dust mite camera under my couch.
Cheesy New Site Stinks
44lbs of Cheddar Entertains Thousands
Trend Themes
1. Live Stream Boredom - Live streaming mundane activities can attract a large audience.
2. Niche Entertainment - Niche entertainment sites can still gain significant attention.
3. Interactive Viewership - Viewers want to be involved in mundane activities through interaction.
Industry Implications
1. Gourmet Food - Companies can capitalize on the trend of live streaming the maturation process of gourmet foods.
2. Entertainment - There is an opportunity for creating niche entertainment sites.
3. Online Marketing - Interactive viewership provides an opportunity for marketers to engage with viewers through mundane activities.