Algorithmic Audiences, Serialized Streamers, and the Discontents of Datafication

Abstract

This article addresses streaming television platforms’ reliance on algorithms, serial narratives, and user interfaces and the effect of these strategies on the television viewing audience. The datafication of television means that opaque, proprietary computational processes play a significant role in the television that gets made, in steering viewing to particular series, and in reshaping the identity of the viewing public. User interfaces, data tracking, seriality, and algorithms have thus far proven inadequate for navigating the vast databases offered by streaming platforms. In practice, these systems off-load work to viewers and actively create obstacles to the formation of a collective viewing experience. Algorithmic audiences are trained to be sequential, isolated viewers, whose work of watching occurs in labor-intensive ways.