Indian intermediaries in new media: Mainstreaming the margins

Abstract

This article foregrounds the significant transformations within the nature and role of Indian intermediaries such as talent agents and multichannel networks (hereafter, MCNs) in the new screen ecology. Building on previous findings (Cunningham and Craig, 2019; Boyle, 2018 ; Lobato, 2016; Roussel, 2017 ), I contend that intermediaries exercise a strong influence over streaming platforms as well as content creators through role playing as producers, facilitators and enablers of media talent and content. Through diversification in media management activities across traditional and new media, the intermediaries have successfully readjusted their image from marginalized invisible middlemen to proactive media industry trendsetters. The MCNs and talent agents have been instrumental in developing revenue circuits through their distinct industrial and cultural practices. In doing so, both these entities have diversified from their defined business operations to create their niche by identifying the demands of the evolving Indian media landscape. In charting out their evolving dynamics, my study critically analyses intermediary transactions to offer a revisionist account of their industrial practices.