Today’s global digital environment challenges how media content is created, produced, distributed, and consumed, playing an increasingly important role in the construction of cultural identities. In light of the rise of globally distributed video-on-demand (VOD) services, the effectiveness of current media policy in protecting cultural diversity warrants assessment.
The European Union’s (EU) Audiovisual Media Services Directive, which aims to promote the production and distribution of European works on VOD services, came into force in September 2020. This project uses a case study of Netflix in the Netherlands to generate an empirically based understanding of the promotion of European cultural diversity in VOD. In particular, it seeks to answer how the supply-side regulation of European works impacts the European operations of global VOD services and, by extension, European cultural production.
The issues under consideration are at the intersection of the unique cultural, industrial, and regulatory dynamics of the EU within a global digital context. As such, the project will be researched by an interdisciplinary team from four different faculties (Humanities, Law, Social Sciences, and Business) using an innovative mixed-methods approach combining legal doctrinal analysis, quantitative and qualitative research, and content analysis.