Friction in the Netflix machine: how screen workers interact with streaming data

Rasmussen, Nina (2024) Friction in the Netflix machine: how screen workers interact with streaming data. New Media & Society. ISSN 1461-4448

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Abstract

Data-driven streamers like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have expanded into the European screen landscape with a significant appetite for locally produced content. These players leverage advanced data analytics to gain deep customer insights, but they prefer to keep a lid on their algorithmic operations. This article examines how screen workers interact with streaming data despite widespread secrecy. Drawing on interviews and an interface ethnography, I explore the ways these workers access, sense, generate and resist streaming data throughout their creative process. As such, the article provides a framework for understanding the subtle and sometimes contradictory ways that screen workers engage with such data practices. I also demonstrate how researchers can circumvent and lower barriers to access in an industry marked by data secrecy. As a result, this article contributes to discussions about the datafication of cultural production, and it does so with novel insights from the European screen context.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://journals.sagepub.com/home/NMS
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1990 Broadcasting
Date Deposited:	18 Apr 2024 13:42
Last Modified:	17 Jul 2024 04:36
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/122660

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