Edited by Dr Michael Samuel and Dr Louisa Mitchell

 

To the surprise of analyst expectations, at the end of 2019 Netflix recorded a record-high growth in subscribers and revenue outside of the United States, specifically in its Asia-Pacific region. The growth in this region is attributed to the establishment of regional offices and the commissioning of local productions, the success of which travels even further afield in the wealth of pan-Asian content making its way into Netflix’s global catalogue. Streaming and content partnerships with iQiyi (China), jtbc (South Korea), Fuji TV (Japan) and Dharmatic Entertainment (India), for instance, have also helped Netflix establish itself as a brand with a focus on a global audience. But while Netflix occupies a dominant, though increasingly threatened position in the West amongst competitors such as Amazon, Disney+ and Hulu, in the Asia-Pacific territories it faces bigger challenges pitted again an abundance of well-established alternatives (Viu [Hong Kong], iflix [Malaysia], Voot [India] and HOOQ [Singapore]).

While there is an emergent body of work with a focus on streaming and screen cultures in the US and Europe, limited attention has been paid to the Asia-Pacific region. Our collection wishes to address this gap, exploring Asia-Pacific’s expansive services to produce a more comprehensive picture of its contemporary streaming culture. We are therefore inviting scholars to consider the expanding stream culture in Asia-Pacific territories. Scholars might wish to focus on the following areas:

  • Production, distribution and reception context—nationally and internationally
  • Streaming and pop culture: narratives, forms, aesthetics, themes
  • Identity—national and regional identities
  • Gender, sexuality and sexism in visual streaming culture
  • Internationalisation and decentralisation of local/regional content
  • Media imperialism
  • Markets and audiences: viewing habits (weekly release, binge-watching, live streaming, mobility of screens), accessibility (freemium model, VOD), demographics
  • New media, new technologies, new platforms
  • Terrestrial vs. cable vs. streaming television
  • Copyright and censorship issues
  • Translation (subtitles, fan-subs)

Please send a 300-word abstract along with a researcher profile of up to 150 words to asiapacificscreencultures@gmail.com by 31 May 2020.

Our proposed collection has already attracted the attention of a major academic publisher.