Contingency, Precarity and Short-Video Creativity: Platformization Based Analysis of Chinese Online Screen Industry

Abstract

Platformization theory proposes that cultural productions are contingent on platforms. This study argues that in the Chinese context; however, online productions are contingent not only on platforms, but on government policies. Under the influence of state, market, and platform policy, major streaming services in China are becoming an online “state TV.” The limitations placed on grassroots content has forced creators to thrive elsewhere, contributing to the proliferation of short video platforms such as TikTok. This study investigates the contingency and precarity of the online sector to map the migration of content creators from conventional streaming services to the emerging creative forms of short videos and livestreaming.

Regulating Zhibo in China: Exploring multiple levels of self‐regulation and stakeholder dynamics

“…Furthermore, the self-regulatory mechanisms in China, especially the informal ones, are not transparent (Li, 2019;Zhao, 2019), and even the government policies themselves could be contingent (Su, 2022). Therefore, in-depth interviews are conducted to reveal the opaque self-regulatory activities.…”

Borderline practices on Douyin/TikTok: Content transfer and algorithmic manipulation

“…One notable concept of platformization in the cultural industry is ‘contingency’, meaning that cultural productions are contingent or dependent on platforms, contributing to the notion of ‘contingent commodities’, whereby products and services can be revised, recreated, and redistributed according to platform affordances (Nieborg and Poell, 2019, p. 85 as cited by Su 2022). This contingent nature emphasizes the platform power in shaping and curating content, pointing at power distribution, and the implications for cultural productions, but the creative industries in China are also contingent on government policies.…”

“…These precedents demonstrate the influence of state policies, as well as the contingent or dependent nature of the livestreaming economy. It is a sector that thrives or dwindles on these factors (Su, 2022). The crackdown on Viya signalled an industrial turn at the end of 2021, forecasting changes in the livestreaming industry: a moment to regulate and meet the Party line.…”