Audience Experience Transformed by the Covid-19 Pandemic: A View to Digital Platforms Based on Netflix

Abstract

The audience experience is transforming from the passive and one-sided traditional media audience to an active, binge-watching, digital audience using multiple screens. Major international digital platforms such as Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime, which are effective in this transformation process, aim to ensure that the audience spends more time streaming. Netflix, which stands out among other digital platforms with its larger number of users, draws a different path in terms of viewing experience with binge-watching, Teleparty options, and new production formats such as mini-series. This study investigates how the Netflix platform and its audience underwent a change in terms of digital experience during the pandemic. In addition, the effects of this transformation of experience on the interaction between the audience and the platform and the motivational outputs of the spectacle experience constitute the main questions of the research. As an original approach the triangulation method was used in the study, thus a mixed-methods approach (participatory action research, online survey, and participatory observation-based qualitative interpretation) that methodically verifies each other was adopted. The results of the study conducted with Turkish Netflix viewers (n =400) demonstrated that there was an accelerated transformation in the experience of the digital platform viewers in terms of streaming time during the Covid-19 pandemic and in some cases underwent a spatial transformation. The instrumental transformation of the digital platform and its audience was found to be weakly associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Keywords

• Digital Broadcasting Platforms
• Audience Experience
• Binge-watching
• Teleparty
• Netflix
• Covid-19 Pandemic

Covid-19 Pandemisinde İzleyici Deneyimi: Netflix Ekseninde Dijital Platformlara Bakış

Abstract

İzleyici deneyimi, geleneksel medya izleyicisinin pasif ve tek yönlü halinden; aşırı izleme yapan, çoklu ekran kullanan aktif bir dijital izleyiciye evrilmesiyle dönüşümünü sürdürmektedir. Bu dönüşümde etkili olan Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime gibi başlıca uluslararası dijital platformlar, izleyicinin seyirlik alanlarında daha fazla vakit geçirmesini sağlama amacı gütmektedir. Dijital platformlar arasında kullanıcı sayısıyla öne çıkan Netflix ise aşırı izleme, uzaktan birlikte izleme seçenekleri ve mini dizi gibi yeni yapım formatlarıyla seyir deneyimi açısından farklı bir yol çizmektedir. Bu çalışmada örneklem olarak seçilen Netflix platformunun ve izleyicisinin pandemi döneminde nasıl bir dijital deneyim değişimi geçirdiği araştırılmaktadır. Ayrıca, bu deneyim dönüşümünün izleyici ve platform bağlamında birbirlerine olan etkisi ve seyirlik deneyimin hangi motivasyonel çıktılara dönüştüğü konuları da araştırmanın temel sorularını oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmada orijinal bir yöntem yaklaşımı olarak, üçgenleştirme (triangulation) tekniğine başvurulmuş, yöntemsel olarak birbirinin sağlamasını yapan, karma bir yöntem yaklaşımı (katılımcı eylem araştırması, çevrim içi anket ve katılımcı gözlem temelli nitel yorumlama) benimsenmiştir. Netflix Türkiye izleyicileri ile gerçekleştirilen çalışmanın sonucunda (n=400), dijital platform izleyici deneyiminin Covid-19 pandemisi döneminde seyirlik zaman dönüşümünün hızlandığı ve kimi durumlarda da mekânsal bir dönüşüm geçirdiği ortaya konulmuştur. Dijital platform ve izleyicisinin araçsal yönden dönüşümünün ise Covid-19 pandemisi ile ilişkisi zayıf bulunmuştur.

Keywords

• : Dijital Yayın Platformları
• İzleyici Deneyimi
• Aşırı İzleme
• Uzaktan Birlikte İzleme
• Covid-19 Pandemisi

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