Television audiences in the era of streaming: New viewing practices and the algorithmic experience

Background

Television viewing has undergone a profound transformation over the past decade. The data-driven and increasingly digitalized media environment has fundamentally reshaped television production, viewing practices, and our understanding of what television is. Alongside traditional television channels, streaming services have emerged as major platforms through which a large share of audiences now consume television content.
Despite this significant shift, the implications of streaming services for television production and viewing experiences have not yet been sufficiently explored in the Finnish context. This research project seeks to address this gap by examining what television viewing looks like in the era of streaming services and by investigating the economic, social, and cultural factors that shape contemporary viewing experiences.

We are particularly interested in the flexibility and mobility of viewing practices, AI-mediated audience experiences, and the fragmentation of audiences, as well as the ways in which shared viewing experiences are produced and sustained.

Goal

In the first phase of the study, we will map the key streaming services operating within the Finnish media landscape, together with the ongoing changes and emerging developments affecting the sector. We ask what kinds of economic, technological, and international factors are driving these transformations from the perspective of service providers. In addition to document and statistical analyses, this phase will be conducted through expert interviews.

In the second phase, interviews with viewers will be carried out to examine the viewing practices emerging in the era of streaming services and to investigate how production-related, technological, and sociocultural factors shape people's viewing practices, experiences, and choices.

The project also includes a component employing creative research methods, in which participants will be invited to create maps that represent their own viewing practices. Participatory mapping has traditionally been central to geographical studies of place, but it is increasingly being applied in media research, including studies of media-related emotions, meanings, and everyday experiences.

Impact

The study will generate new and in-depth knowledge about the meanings attributed to streaming services and the emerging practices associated with them. Above all, it will provide novel insights into how economic, technological, and socio-cultural factors shape audience experiences and viewing choices, as well as the challenges that viewers associate with streaming services. At the same time, the study will contribute to a better understanding of the competitive landscape of streaming services and its future trajectories.

More broadly, the research will illuminate the significance of streaming services from the perspective of the construction of publicity and public visibility, and examine how shared audience experiences are constituted within networks of media content, technological devices, and social relations. Furthermore, the study will offer new knowledge about the ways in which the structural features of streaming services influence societal and cultural experiences, and about the kinds of transformations to which media companies will need to respond.