Serial Narrative Exports: US Television Drama in Europe

Abstract

In the last decade media convergence and the development of online media have radically altered the operations of television industries on a global scale. A technology-led reconfiguration of television has provided new opportunities for media companies and consumers while also transforming traditional broadcasting logics. Alternative modes of content circulation have resulted in fast, instantaneous distribution that fosters a ‘culture of speed’ where immediate availability and control over media content have become part of digital consumer culture.1 In the United States, the industry has had to mediate between the availability of new technologies, which afford new opportunities to circulate content, and the demands of pre-existing industrial structures and logics.2 While digital convergence has challenged the old ways of producing and experiencing television, this mediation between new technological possibilities and traditional industrial logics has led to a degree of continuity and industrial stability, as exemplified by television multi-platforming. The ensemble of distribution, marketing, content design and other broadcasting practices adopted by producers and distributors to develop and circulate televisual products across multiple media, television multiplatforming takes advantages of new technologies to enhance new business models and services but centres on traditional broadcast content, such as hour long serial dramas.