SVoDs, new norms and the challenge for public service media | Intellect Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Journal of Digital Media & Policy
  4. Volume 14, Issue 3
  5. Article
US-Based SVoD Providers in Europe: Impacts and Challenges
  • ISSN: 2516-3523
  • E-ISSN: 2516-3531

Abstract

The growing popularity of subscription video-on-demand services (SVoDs) has transformed the European media landscape, re-shaped consumption habits, fragmented audiences and made it more difficult for public service media (PSM) organizations to engage especially younger audiences. This article analyses challenges, such as competing against the immense commissioning power of SVoDs, faced by PSM. Focusing particularly on the UK experience, it highlights how, despite the growing prevalence and popularity of SVoDs and their role in promoting wider circulation for material drawn from a variety of international sources, PSM organizations are still recognized by audiences and by television programme-makers as being pivotal to provision of certain sorts of quintessentially local content. As this article argues, the rise of global streamers has both accentuated and altered the ways in which PSM deliver public value, effectively re-positioning PSM as elements of what might be seen as critical media infrastructure.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • UK Economic and Social Research Council (Award ES/N015258/1)
  • The ESRC (Award ES/X005690/1)
© 2023 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/jdmp_00130_1
2023-11-30
2024-04-28
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Afilipoaie, A., Iordache, C. and Raats, T. (2021), ‘The “Netflix Original” and what it means for the production of European TV content’, Critical Studies in Television: The International Journal of Television Studies, 16:3, pp. 304–25.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Aguiar, L. and Waldfogel, J. (2018), ‘Netflix: Global hegemon or facilitator of frictionless digital trade?’, Journal of Cultural Economics, 42:3, pp. 419–45.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Asmar, A., Raats, T. and Audenhove, L. Van (2022), ‘Streaming difference(s): Netflix and the branding of diversity’, Critical Studies in Television, 18:1, pp. 24–40.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Barker, A. (2022), ‘Netflix is starting to look more like traditional TV’, Financial Times, 1 September, https://www.ft.com/content/06a16b89-1fea-4baf-90b0-e518877ac484. Accessed 1 June 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Barker, A. and Grimes, C. (2022), ‘Big budget blockbusters arrive amid fears of “peak TV”’, Financial Times, 25 August, https://www.ft.com/content/0e95cf55-dda1-4f63-bb6b-bf475f974f30. Accessed 1 June 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Biggam, R. (2020), ‘Brexit and the effects of the proposed EU–UO partnership agreement on the audiovisual sector’, European Foreign Affairs Review, 25:3, pp. 379–98.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Bruun, H. and Bille, B. (2022), ‘Television documentaries as spearheads in public service television: Comparing scheduling practices on the linear channels and video-on-demand services of Danish TV 2 and DR’, Nordicom Review, 43:1, pp. 79–93.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Bulck, H. Van den (2023), ‘PSM in the digital economy, the view from the EU’, in T. Flew, J. Holt and J. Thomas (eds), The Sage Handbook of the Digital Media Economy, London: Sage, pp. 385–404.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Chalaby, J. and Plunkett, S. (2020), ‘Standing on the shoulders of tech giants: Media delivery, streaming television and the rise of global suppliers’, New Media and Society, 23:11, pp. 3206–28.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Creamer, J. (2021), ‘Global content spend hit record high of $220bn in 2020’, Televisual, 28 June, https://www.televisual.com/news/global-content-spend-hit-record-high-of-220bn-in-2020/. Accessed 1 April 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Cunningham, S. and Eklund, O. (2022), ‘State actor policy and regulation across the platform-SVOD divide’, in T. Flew and F. Martin (eds), Digital Platform Regulation: Global Perspectives on Internet Governance, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 191–208.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. D’Arma, A., Raats, T. and Steemers, J. (2021), ‘Public service media in the age of SVoDs: A comparative study of PSM strategic responses in Flanders, Italy and the UK’, Media, Culture & Society, 43:4, pp. 682–700.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Davie, T. (2022), ‘Leading the UK into digital’, speech given to Royal Television Society, 7 December, London: St Martin-in-the-Fields.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Donders, K. (2019), ‘Public service media beyond the digital hype: Distribution strategies in a platform era’, Media, Culture & Society, 41:7, pp. 1011–28.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Doyle, G. (2016), ‘Resistance of channels: Television distribution in the multiplatform era’, Telematics and Informatics, 33, pp. 693–702.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Doyle, G. and Paterson, R. (2008), ‘Public policy and independent television production in the UK’, Journal of Media Business Studies, 5:3, pp. 17–33.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Doyle, G., Paterson, R. and Barr, K. (2021), Television Production in Transition: Independence, Scale, Sustainability and the Digital Challenge, Cham: Springer.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. EAO (2020), Television, Cinema, Video and On-Demand Audiovisual Services: The Pan-European Picture, Strasbourg: European Audiovisual Observatory.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. EBU (2018), ‘“Fake news” and the information disorder’, position paper, Geneva: EBU, https://www.ebu.ch/publications/fake-news-and-the-information-disorder. Accessed 1 April 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Enli, G., Syvertsen, T. and Mjøs, O. (2018), ‘The welfare state and the media system’, Scandinavian Journal of History, 43:5, pp. 601–23.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Ernst & Young (2021), Assessing the Impact of a Change of Ownership of Channel 4: An Economic, Social and Cultural Impact Assessment of the Impact of Privatisation, London: Ernst & Young LLP.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Esser, A. (2016), ‘Challenging U.S. leadership in entertainment television? The rise and sale of Europe’s international TV production groups’, International Journal of Communication, 10, pp. 3585–614.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. European Commission (2018), ‘A multidimensional approach to disinformation’, report, Brussels: European Union.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Evens, T., Henderickz, A. and Conradie, P. (2023), ‘Technological affordances of video streaming platforms: Why people prefer video streaming platforms over television’, European Journal of Communication, https://doi.org/10.1177/02673231231155731.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. FOMC (Future of Media Commission) (2022), Report of the Future of Media Commission, Dublin: Future of Media Commission, https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/ccae8-report-of-the-future-of-media-commission/#:~:text=The%20Commission’s%20report%2C%20which%20was,for%20transforming%20Ireland’s%20media%20sector. Accessed 1 April 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Forbes, D. (2022), ‘Dee Forbes on why public media matters’, RTÉ Press Release, 13 April, https://www.rte.ie/eile/2022/0404/1290240-dee-forbes-on-why-public-media-matters/. Accessed 1 April 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Foster, R. (2019), ‘A future for public service media’, InterMEDIA, 47:4, pp. 17–20.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Freedman, D. (2019), ‘“Public service” and the journalism crisis: Is the BBC the answer?’, Television & New Media, 20:3, pp. 203–18.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Freedman, D. and Goblot, V. (eds) (2018), A Future for Public Service Television, London: University of Goldsmith Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Ganatra, S. (2023), ‘What the BBC can learn from its global peers’, Broadcast, 28 February, https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/broadcast-magazine/what-the-bbc-can-learn-from-its-global-peers/5179708.article. Accessed 1 April 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. García Leiva, M. T. and Albornoz, L. A. (2021), ‘VoD service providers and regulation in the European Union: An audiovisual diversity approach’, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 27:3, pp. 267–81.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Grainge, P. and Johnson, C. (2018), ‘From catch-up TV to online TV: Digital broadcasting and the case of BBC iPlayer’, Screen, 59:1, pp. 21–40.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Hall, T. (2015), ‘The BBC in the internet era’, Speech at New Broadcasting House, BBC Media Centre, London, 2 March, https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/speeches/2015/tony-hall-bbc-internet-era. Accessed 1 April 2023.
  34. Hansen, K. (2020), ‘Glocal perspectives on Danish television series’, in A. Waade, M. Jensen and E. Redvall (eds), Danish Television Drama: Global Lessons from a Small Nation, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 83–101.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Hesmondhalgh, D. and Lotz, A. (2020), ‘Video screen interfaces as new sites of media circulation power’, International Journal of Communication, 14, pp. 386–409.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Iordache, C., Raats, T. and Afilipoaie, A. (2022), ‘Transnationalisation revisited through the Netflix Original: An analysis of investment strategies in Europe’, Convergence, 28:1, pp. 236–54.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Iosifidis, P. (2020), ‘House of Lords Communications Committee: Public service broadcasting in the age of video on demand’, Journal of Digital Media & Policy, 11:1, pp. 81–95.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Irwin-Hunt, A. (2023), ‘Streaming wars’, FDI Intelligence, 8 February, https://www.fdiintelligence.com/content/data-trends/streaming-wars-disney-netflix-and-amazon-to-drive-original-content-spend-82017. Accessed 1 April 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Johnson, C. (2019), Online TV, New York: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Lassen, J. M. and Sørensen, J. K. (2021), ‘From broadcast volume to on-demand value: DR’s strategic response to changes in Danish media policy’, RIPE@2021: ‘Public Service Media’s Contribution to Society’, University of Fribourg, Switzerland, 27–28 September.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Lobato, R. (2019), Netflix Nations: The Geography of Digital Distribution, New York: New York University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Lobato, R. and Scarlata, A. (2022), ‘Regulating discoverability in subscription video-on-demand services’, in T. Flew and F. R. Martin (eds), Digital Platform Regulation, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Lotz, A. (2017), Portals: A Treatise on Internet-Distributed Television, Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan Publishing.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Lotz, A. (2021a), ‘Unpopularity and cultural power in the age of Netflix: New questions for cultural studies’ approaches to television texts’, European Journal of Cultural Studies, 24:4, pp. 887–900.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Lotz, A. (2021b), ‘In between the global and the local: Mapping the geographies of Netflix as a multinational service’, International Journal of Cultural Studies, 24:2, pp. 195–215.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Lowe, G., Bulck, H. Van den and Donders, K. (eds) (2018), PSM in the Networked Society, Göteborg: Nordicom.
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Lüders, M. and Sundet, V. (2021), ‘Conceptualizing the experiential affordances of watching online TV’, Television and New Media, 23:4, pp. 335–51.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Mahon, A. (2019), ‘Regulation needs to support PSBs to achieve their goals’, speech to Royal Television Society, Cambridge.
  49. Mazzucato, M., Mazzoli, E. and Conway, R. (2022), ‘BBC future funding’, Submission to House of Lords Select Committee Inquiry into BBC Future Funding from UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/sites/bartlett_public_purpose/files/mazzucato_et_al_call_for_evidence_bbc_funding_final35.pdf. Accessed 1 April 2023.
  50. McElroy, R. and Noonan, C. (2019), Producing British Television Drama: Local Production in a Global Era, London: Palgrave Macmillan.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Michalis, M. (2022), ‘Trends and perspectives on digital platforms and digital television in Europe; PSB in the online television environment’, International Journal of Communications, 16, pp. 525–44.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Mulgan, G. and Paterson, R. (1993), Hollywood of Europe? The Future of Film, London: BFI.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Netflix (2019), ‘Written evidence (PSB0041)’, Submission to the House of Lords Communications Committee inquiry on ‘PSB in the age of video-on-demand’, London: House of Lords.
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Nicolaou, A. and Grimes, C. (2021), ‘Streaming wars drive media groups to spend more than $100bn on new content’, Financial Times, 29 December, https://www.ft.com/content/ae756fda-4c27-4732-89af-cb6903f2ab40. Accessed 1 June 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Ofcom (2020a), Small Screen: Big Debate – A Five-Year Review of Public Service Broadcasting (2014–18), London: Ofcom.
     [Google Scholar]
  56. Ofcom (2020b), COVID-19 News and Information Consumption and Attitudes-Results from Week One to Three of Ofcom’s Online Survey, London: Ofcom.
     [Google Scholar]
  57. Ofcom (2020c), Public Service Broadcasting: Omnibus Survey Findings, London: Ofcom.
     [Google Scholar]
  58. Ofcom (2021a), Small Screen, Big Debate, Recommendations to Government on the Future of Public Service Media, London: Ofcom.
     [Google Scholar]
  59. Ofcom (2021b), Big Debate Consultation, Annex 2: Producing Public Service Media Content, London: Ofcom.
     [Google Scholar]
  60. Ofcom (2021c), Big Debate Consultation, Annex 6: Why Public Service Broadcasting Still Matters, London: Ofcom.
     [Google Scholar]
  61. Ofcom (2021d), Media Nations: UK 2021, London: Ofcom.
     [Google Scholar]
  62. Ofcom (2022), Media Nations: UK 2022, London: Ofcom.
     [Google Scholar]
  63. Oliver & Ohlbaum (2018), The Impact of the Terms of Trade on the UK’s Television Content Production Sector: A Report for the CMPA, London: O&O Associates.
     [Google Scholar]
  64. Oliver & Ohlbaum (2022), UK Television Production Survey: Financial Census 2021, London: Oliver & Ohlbaum Associates, https://www.pact.co.uk/static/f583ffd4-97c4-416b-bf6d1052ff361dc0/Oliver-and-Ohlbaum-Pact-Census-2021-Nations-and-Regions-Annex-FINAL.pdf?userDownload=true. Accessed 1 April 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  65. Poell, T., Nieborg, D. and Duffy, B. (2022), Platforms and Cultural Production, London: Polity.
     [Google Scholar]
  66. Puttnam, D. and Watson, N. (1997) The Undeclared War: The Struggle for Control of the World’s Film Industry, London: HarperCollins.
     [Google Scholar]
  67. Raats, T. and Jensen, P. (2021), ‘The role of public service media in sustaining TV drama in small markets’, Television & New Media, 22:7, pp. 835–55.
     [Google Scholar]
  68. Ranaivoson, H. (2019), ‘Online platforms and cultural diversity in the audiovisual sectors: A combined look at concentration and algorithms’, in L. A. Albornoz and M. T. García Leiva (eds), Audio-Visual Industries and Diversity: Economics and Policies in the Digital Era, London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  69. Schulz, A., Levy, D. and Nielsen, R. (2019) Old, Educated, and Politically Diverse: The Audience of Public Service News, Oxford: Reuters Institute.
     [Google Scholar]
  70. Smith, A. (1998), Nationalism and Modernism: A Critical Survey of Recent Theories of Nations and Nationalism, London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  71. Steemers, J. (2016), ‘International sales of UK television content: Change and continuity in “the space in between” production and consumption’, Television & New Media, 17:8, pp. 734–53.
     [Google Scholar]
  72. Thompson, M. (2018), ‘Reflection on “A future for public service television”’, in D. Freedman and V. Goblot (eds), A Future for Public Service Television, London: Goldsmiths Press, pp. 19–23.
     [Google Scholar]
  73. USITC (2018), ‘Recent trends in US services trade: 2018 annual report’, Washington, DC: US International Trade Commission.
     [Google Scholar]
  74. Walsh, H. (2023), ‘Growth in content investment will slump in 2023’, Ampere Insights, 12 January, https://www.ampereanalysis.com/insight/growth-in-content-investment-will-slump-in-2023. Accessed 1 April 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  75. Weeds, H. (2020), ‘Rethinking PSB for the digital age’, report, 3 December, London: Ofcom.
     [Google Scholar]
  76. Yusta, J., Correa, G. and Lacal-Arántegui, R. (2011), ‘Methodologies and applications for critical infrastructure protection, state-of-the-art’, Energy Policy, 39:10, pp. 6100–19.
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/jdmp_00130_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): commissioning power; critical media infrastructure; global streamers; local content; PSM; public value

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error