LanguageTerm (authority = ISO 639-3:2007); (type = text)
English
Abstract (type = abstract)
Long before the popular rise of digital video recorders, streaming media services, and mobile devices, Raymond Williams (1975) introduced the concept of flow as the culturally defining characteristic of television. Over forty years later, Williams’ concept of televisual flow is more relevant than ever as television content and audiences have become diffused and fragmented across a multitude of digital networks, platforms, and devices. This study attempts to conduct a deep-dive into the television industry to build upon Williams’ original concept and learn what is at stake for contemporary audiences. Furthermore, it challenges the basic linear/non-linear framework by which televisual flow is typically defined today and attempts to replace it with the more specific concepts of universal and personalized flows. By analyzing trade publications and interviewing industry executives, this research adopts Herbert Schiller’s method of “listening in” to the industry in order to reveal the strategies and power structures guiding the programming, measuring, and regulating of televisual flow in the United States. Results portray television as an industry guided by self-preservation and an insatiable appetite for viewer data, strategically protecting legacy business models while inconspicuously transferring those same strategies onto new forms of flow in an attempt to extract even greater value from audiences.
Subject (authority = local)
Topic
Audience measurement
Subject (authority = LCSH)
Topic
Mass media -- Audiences
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Communication, Information and Library Studies
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_10717
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (vi, 292 pages)
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
School of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore10001600001
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
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