Transnationalisation revisited through the Netflix Original: An analysis of investment strategies in Europe

2021 ◽  
pp. 135485652110473
Author(s):  
Catalina Iordache ◽  
Tim Raats ◽  
Adelaida Afilipoaie
Keyword(s):  
Video On Demand ◽  
European Market ◽  
Audience Reception ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Visual Content ◽  
Media Ownership ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
European Markets

Players in the European market have developed a series of transnational collaborations and practices in the cross-border production and distribution of audio-visual content, media ownership, regulation and audience reception. Transnational subscription video-on-demand platforms have also visibly increased their investments in original content, in their attempt to expand and maintain their international subscriber bases. Among them, Netflix has been particularly active in investing in European markets. This article traces the evolution of Netflix investments in European original scripted series produced between 2012 and 2020 and analyses the platform’s investment strategies in European markets through the lens of transnational television theory. The findings point to various elements of transnationalisation, placing European originals at the intersection between local and global, through market dynamics, strategic collaborations and content with transnational appeal. The findings also confirm the growing importance of rights retention and premium content offerings through the increase of big-budget commissions, particularly in developed European markets.

scholarly journals The ‘Netflix Original’ and what it means for the production of European television content

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 304-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adelaida Afilipoaie ◽  
Catalina Iordache ◽  
Tim Raats
Keyword(s):  
Video On Demand ◽  
European Market ◽  
Small States ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Television Content ◽  
Contextual Characteristics ◽  
Significant Uptake ◽  
Investment Patterns

The European audiovisual market has unique contextual characteristics that constrain the sustainability and development of audiovisual content. Among other shifts, the rise of global subscription video-on-demand players like Netflix have been reshaping this market. Although Netflix has been investing in Europe, little is known about their actual investment strategies. This study’s goal is to analyse Netflix original investment in European scripted series and examine their implications for the European market. Based on a mapping of all European Netflix Originals, we identify four investment patterns. The analysis shows a significant uptake of Netflix investment, yet concurrently these reinforce existing discrepancies between large and small states in Europe.

Global streamers: Placing the transnational at the heart of TV culture

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean K. Chalaby
Keyword(s):  
Professional Practice ◽  
Video On Demand ◽  
Video Sharing ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Transnational Media ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Media Globalization ◽  
Tv Culture

As media globalization has progressed, transnational media have evolved, and this article contends that a new generation has emerged. The first that developed in the latter part of the twentieth century consists of cross-border TV networks and formats. The second is the rise of streaming platforms. During the first generation, the transnational remained a professional practice out of viewers’ reach. With the arrival of the second generation, the transnational has become an everyday mode of media consumption and interaction. Online entertainment services have altered the status of the transnational within TV culture, and what was once at the margins now sits at the core. This article theorizes the notion of the transnational before examining the first and second generations of cross-border media. Considering the advent of streaming, it divides the market into three spaces: subscription video on demand (SVoD), advertising video on demand (AVoD) and video sharing. This article demonstrates how transnational consumption makes SVoD platforms more cosmopolitan than cross-border TV networks. Turning to video-sharing platforms – YouTube in particular – it argues that in the history of TV culture this constitutes a shift in status of the transnational by turning a professional practice into a popular one performed by millions. Based on interviews, this article shows how international access lowers the threshold of economic viability for content creators, while users get involved in cross-border conversations through memetic videos and comments. It is no longer place but technology that determines the fate of stories and ideas, and internet delivery has loosened the ties between TV culture and national culture more than ever.

Locating SVOD in Australia and Mexico: Stan and Blim contend with Netflix

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-490
Author(s):  
Sofia Rios ◽  
Alexa Scarlata
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Video On Demand ◽  
Television Production ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Transnational Media ◽  
Relative Success ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Global Status ◽  
The Many ◽  
Scholarly Inquiry

This study employs a comparative analysis of industrial practices and marketing campaigns utilised by subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platforms, Stan and Blim. It evaluates Stan’s creation and launch prior to the advent of Netflix in Australia, and the introduction of Blim well after Netflix had already established itself as the preferred SVOD in Mexico. Despite the substantial differences between the histories and impacts of these respective national television markets, this study identifies that both platforms have experienced relative success by capitalising on Netflix’s problematic ‘global’ status, by focusing on the production and distribution of content that is uniquely reflective of their geographic audiences. The aim of this research is to encourage scholarly inquiry into internet-distributed television to look beyond multinational portals like Netflix, to localise studies of transnational media and SVOD platforms and to consider the many ways that competing with Netflix has impacted the future of national television production.

Video-on-demand services in Latin America: Trends and challenges towards access, concentration and regulation

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-126
Author(s):  
Mariela Baladron ◽  
Ezequiel Rivero
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Vertical Integration ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Video On Demand ◽  
Visual Content ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Pay Tv ◽  
New Entrants ◽  
Over The Top

In this article, an analysis of the over-the-top video on demand (VOD OTT) services’ market in Latin America is proposed, to account for its penetration, relationship with traditional pay-TV, content policies and current (and nowadays under debate) regulations for the sector. The analysis departs from a comparative study on the five main audio-visual markets of the region: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico, within which it is analysed Netflix, the predominant VOD OTT service. First, it will be argued that Internet’s potential to generate higher levels of competition and diversity from online distribution of audio-visual content has been limited by practices of vertical integration between a few new entrants and pre-existing, dominant players of the infocommunications industry. Secondly, the State’s role as a guarantor of public interest is discussed, particularly in periphery contexts with deeply structural asymmetries, as is the case in the countries mentioned above.

Becoming a Global Producer: Creative and Industrial Change at Post-Studiocanal RED

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-326
Author(s):  
Christopher Meir
Keyword(s):  
Video On Demand ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Industrial Change ◽  
Export Markets ◽  
Literary Adaptation ◽  
The North ◽  
Industrial Landscape ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Critical Scrutiny ◽  
The Uk

Up until late 2013, RED Production was considered one of the UK's premier independent producers. In December of that year, 51 per cent of the company was sold to Studiocanal, the production and distribution arm of France's Canal+, a pay-television provider with an increasingly global orientation. Although the UK trade press has continued to label RED as an ‘indie’, this article argues that the investment by a much larger multinational corporation marks a watershed moment in RED's history. While the company's trajectory since the takeover shows many artistic continuities with the previous fifteen years – including continuing collaboration with key writers and a dedication to shooting and setting stories in the north of England – there have also been significant changes to some of the company's long-standing practices that require critical scrutiny. The article will document and analyse a number of these, taking as case studies the series created after the investment and distributed by Studiocanal as well as a number of projects reported to be in development since that point. Collectively these changes have seen RED shift from what Andrew Spicer and Steve Presence have called its ‘rooted regionalism’ to being a more globally oriented producer, a change apparent in the settings of some of its shows. It has also seen the company embrace artistic practices – such as literary adaptation and the remaking of existing series and films – that it had long eschewed. The article seeks to explore what has been gained and lost by RED as it has embarked on this global strategy, a strategy that becomes all the more urgent as the industrial landscape of British television is transformed by the importance of international export markets and the growing power of subscription video on demand (SVOD) services such as Amazon Prime and Netflix.

STANDPUNKTE: Cloud-TV - Idee, Ausgestaltung und Wirkung

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-33
Author(s):  
Arnold Picot ◽  
Hermann Rotermund ◽  
Helwin Lesch
Keyword(s):  
Video On Demand ◽  
Internet Research ◽  
Sich Eine ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Arnold Picot

Das Medium Fernsehen hat sich in den letzten Jahrzehnten eher inkrementell weiterentwickelt. Durch neue Übertragungswege wie Satelliten und Kabelnetze haben sich Programmspektrum und Darstellungsqualität deutlich verbessert. Smartphones und andere Endgeräte ermöglichen den Zugriff auf Inhalte jenseits des klassischen Fernsehers. Mit Cloud-TV deutet sich nun eine grundlegende Veränderung an. Cloud-TV bündelt lineares Fernsehen, Video-on-Demand-Dienste und zahlreiche weitere Dienste in einem Angebot, das ein Nutzer von allen Endgeräten aus nutzen kann. Es stellt die bekannten Muster der Mediennutzung, der Wertschöpfung im Medienbereich und die vorhandene Regulierung genauso in Frage wie die Arbeitsteilung zwischen privaten und öffentlichen Anbietern. Diesem Thema hatte das Munich Center for Internet Research (MCIR), ein interdisziplinäres Forschungszentrum der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, am 16. Mai 2017 eine Veranstaltung gewidmet. Im Rahmen einer Podiumsdiskussion hatten sich Arnold Picot, Hermann Rotermund und Helwin Lesch intensiv mit dem Thema Cloud-TV auseinandergesetzt. Nachfolgend findet sich eine Zusammenfassung ihrer Statements. Wir knüpfen damit an den Beitrag aus Heft 3/2016 zur Zukunft des Fernsehens und speziell zu der Rolle der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten in Zeiten der Cloud an. Sicherlich beschäftigen wir uns aber nicht das letzte Mal mit der Zukunft des klassischen Fernsehens!

Amazons Kampf um das Wohnzimmer

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 37-39
Author(s):  
Ralf Kaumanns
Keyword(s):  
Streaming Media ◽  
Video On Demand ◽  
Video Content ◽  
On Demand

Der Kampf um das Wohnzimmer ist voll entbrannt. Eine Reihe von Anbietern versuchen Streaming Media-Dienste im deutschen Markt zu etablieren. Amazon hat sich mit seiner Strategie eine marktführende Rolle erarbeiten können. Laut einer Analyse von Goldmedia¹ besitzt Amazon mittlerweile einen Anteil im Video-On-Demand-Markt von 38,9%, deutlich vor Wettbewerbern wie Apple, Maxdome, Google oder Netflix. Der Erfolg kommt nicht von ungefähr. Der Grund liegt vor allem in einer umfassenden Strategie rund um das Thema Bewegtbild und Video Content. Im Kampf um das Wohnzimmer haben selbst große und finanzkräftige Wettbewerber einen schweren Stand, um mit umfassend gebündelten Angeboten Schritt zu halten.

Kabelnetzbetreiber als Programmveranstalter?

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 51-56
Author(s):  
Constantin Lange ◽  
Bernd Kleinsteuber ◽  
Thomas Hintze
Keyword(s):  
Video On Demand ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Triple Play ◽  
Pay Tv

Als Premiere bei der Vergabe der Bundesliga-Fernsehrechte für die nächsten drei Jahre durch die DFL leer ausging, wurde von dort eine ordnungs- und medienpolitisch relevante Kritik geäußert. Arena, der neue Inhaber der Pay-TV-Rechte, ist nämlich eine hundertprozentige Tochtergesellschaft des Unternehmens Unity Media, das gleichzeitig die Kabelnetze von ish, iesy und Tele Columbus betreibt. Bisher war die Trennung von TV-Programm und -Distribution nicht nur ein Prinzip der Medienpolitik, sondern auch ein struktureller Vorteil aus ordnungspolitischer Sicht, da es den funktionierenden Wettbewerb auf der Programmebene von eventuellen Wettbewerbsproblemen auf der Distributionsebene unabhängig macht. Mehr als die Hälfte aller Haushalte erhalten ihre Fernsehprogramme über das TV-Kabel, das überall ein regionales Monopol besitzt. Allerdings steht das TV-Kabel in Substitutionskonkurrenz zu anderen Distributionswegen wie Satellit und Terrestrik (insb. DVB-T) und zukünftig auch zu den aufgerüsteten, breitbandigen Telekommunikationsnetzen (insb. VDSL) im Kontext von Triple Play. Diese verschärfte Wettbewerbssituation, die die Geschäftsmodelle der Kabelnetze in Gefahr bringt, zwingt diese, nach neuen Erlösmöglichkeiten Ausschau zu halten. Solche können einerseits im Angebot von Telefon- und Internetdiensten bestehen und andererseits im eigenen Angebot audiovisueller Inhalte, insbesondere als Pay-TV oder Pay-per-View bzw. Video-on-Demand. Damit ist die Interessenkollision zwischen Kabelnetzbetreibern und Programmanbietern vorgezeichnet. Im Folgenden beziehen Dr. Constantin Lange von der RTL inter active GmbH, Bernd Kleinsteuber von der Cablecom GmbH und Prof. DI Thomas Lange von der UPC Austria mit ihren Standpunktbeiträgen Position auf die Frage: Kabelnetzbetreiber als Programmveranstalter?

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