Global media flows: A qualitative review of research methods in audio-visual flow studies

Abstract

Recent developments in the online distribution and consumption of audio-visual content have brought relevant changes to the transnational flow of content. Thus, the need for a theoretical and methodological rejuvenation of flows research has been signalled. The aim of the present study is to analyse the different flow studies throughout time, following a series of parameters such as research question, methodology and scale of study. This article is a systematic literature review of 30 flow studies on film and television programmes, published between 1974 and 2014. The methods used by the studies are brought into focus and discussed thoroughly, in light of the method of data collection, the type of data used and the method of data analysis. Main findings show an evolution towards more detailed research, to include more contextual factors, an increased use of secondary data, as well as more focused regional and comparative studies.

Introduction: Theorizing Digital Peripheries

“…The debates of the 1990s and 2000s regarding cultural globalization tended to dismiss center-periphery hierarchies and one-directional flow paradigms on both theoretical and empirical grounds, replacing them with multi-directional models and emphasizing processes of cultural hybridization. However, it seems that some key elements of the original models-issues of media concentration, unequal cultural power, shifting macro-level hierarchies and the direction of global media flowsare on the comeback, especially in the study of global digital media and regulation therein (Iordache et al 2018). In the era of "post-globalization" (Flew 2018), VOD distribution and Internet television attract special attention in these renewed debates as vehicles of "programming from afar," inspiring a renaissance of the cultural imperialism critique and consequent cultural protectionism in the "discourses that shape policy and practice" (Lobato 2018: 216).…”

Netflix in Europe: Four Markets, Four Platforms? A Comparative Analysis of Audio-Visual Offerings and Investment Strategies in Four EU States

“…The comparison builds, firstly, on the catalog offerings and the differences between them; and secondly, the different investment strategies in terms of market specificities. The first line of enquiry follows a series of parameters that have been previously used in landmark flow studies (see Iordache et al 2018): number of records, country of origin, language, and genre. The second will focus on the available Netflix original productions in each of the markets analyzed.…”

Screen Industries in East-Central Europe

“…Small-market research has not yet sufficiently benefitted from the tradition of studying imbalances and peripherality in transnational media flows that started in the mid-1970s and that recently seem to be re-emerging in response to the boom in transnational VOD services and platforms of the FAANG group (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google) (Iordache, Van Audenhove and Loisen 2018). Peripherality is not measured by the internal market structure or absolute market size, but by the distance from and dependency on the 'core' or centre; it is caused by external forces rather than the inherent features of a market.…”

“…Core-periphery thinking and models of one-way flows have been criticized as simplistic and revised many times, including by the proponents of cultural globalization and hybridization (Kraidy 2005), and by looking at 'cultural discount' or 'cultural proximity' as ways of explaining audience preferences for local television programmes (Straubhaar 2007), audiovisual 'counter-flows' (Thussu 2007), and'polycentric' world cinema paradigms (Nagib, Perriam andDudrah 2012). However, studies of imbalances of cultural flows also seem to be regaining validity in the era of transnational online distribution (Iordache, Van Audenhove and Loisen 2018;Lobato 2018: 216) and 'platform imperialism' ( Jin 2017( Jin , 2019, especially when confronted with the current treatment of small and/or peripheral markets by global VOD services and platforms.…”