Content, Catalogs, and Cultural Imperialism
Ramon Lobato
ramon.lobato@rmit.edu.auRoyal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Australia)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1689-7233
Abstract
The article comes from the book Netflix Nations. The geography of digital distribution published in 2019. The author devotes his attention to the ways in which the American VOD service operates on foreign markets, with particular emphasis on Canada and the European Union, focusing on the controversial relationship between American and local content. Lobato performs the analysis in a diachronic order, referring to changes both within media theories, as well as in media market legislation and at the same time in a synchronic one, comparing the platform’s methods of operation in various places around the world and political responses to them. In the last part, the author explores the discrepancies between the relatively strict cultural policy aimed at subjugating the giant and the preferences of the audience, which through their choices co-creates its programme offer, and encourages further reflection on, as he puts it, the articulation between catalogs, recommendation algorithms, and national media policies as we move further into an on-demand media environment.
- The text is a translation of the chapter Content, Catalogs, and Cultural Imperialism from the book by Ramon Lobato Netflix Nations. The Geography of Digital Distribution, New York University Press, New York 2019 (http://opensquare.nyupress.org/books/9781479804948/read/) © 2019 by New York University.
Keywords:
Netflix, film market, cultural imperialismReferences
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Authors
Ramon Lobatoramon.lobato@rmit.edu.au
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Australia
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1689-7233
Badacz mediów, pracownik naukowy Królewskiego Instytutu Technologii w Melbourne. Interesuje się w szczególności dystrybucją na rynku audiowizualnym, platformami streamingowymi, piractwem i nieformalnymi kanałami rozpowszechniania. Jest autorem ponad 40 artykułów w tomach zbiorowych i czasopismach oraz książek: Shadow Economies of Cinema (2012), The Informal Media Economy (2015; wraz z J. Thomasem), Geoblocking and Global Video Culture (2016; współred. J. Meese), Netflix Nations (2019). Obecnie współkieruje projektem badawczym Australian Research Council, którego celem jest analiza wpływu serwisów VOD na narodowe rynki medialne.
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