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Project

Global subscription-Video on Demand services in Europe, and how they re-shape sustainability and content of small television markets. (FWOAL1013)

Subscription-based streaming services like Netflix, Disney+ and
Amazon Prime are said to be reshaping existing practices of audiovisual production and distribution. These players allow new forms of revenue and outlets, yet they also put pressure on existing forms of financing, most notably from broadcasters. Especially small markets seem to take the hardest hit: players like Netflix compete head-on with local broadcasters and distributors, but have less incentive to
invest heavily in cultural specific content that – at worse – only attracts small audiences. Media policymakers therefore have increasingly developed measures that enforce players like Netflix to contribute to domestic production in the form of levies or quota. Scholarly attention for these players has increased as well, but much.
less attention has gone to how production and investment strategies
(coproduction, acquisition of rights, or co-financing) are actually
affecting the sustainability of small markets and its content. In our
work, we first define what makes small markets small and what
factors affect sustainability. In the empirical work, we compare how
these new players invest in 3 small markets, how existing market
players are responding to this, and how they reshape existing
production practices and financing, and ultimately: how they increase
sustainability, or, conversely, put further pressure on already fragile
markets.
Date:1 Jan 2021 →  Today
Keywords:subscription-based on-demand audiovisual players, small television markets, television fiction
Disciplines:Political economy of communication