Fandomization of online video or television in China

Abstract

In this article, I explain a new media ecology for online television in which the online audience or fans and their participation play a stronger role in swaying the online video content or production. I call it fandomization of online television. Dependent on the number of online users and the viewership, online television platforms have to produce programs that align with the fans’ discourse and emotions to maximize their viewership. This results in a fan-discourse-led production, as in the case of China’s huge online video or television market. Based on my study of the top online television production company, Tencent Video, and its top television program, as well as ethnographic observations of their productions, I illustrate how Tencent Video manages fans by establishing a fan-based platform that works in tandem with its television platform. The dual television and fan-based platform of the television industry forms an interlocking web of the network of fans, their idols, and social media, with the consequences that social and political public discourse are highly synchronized in China’s extremely controlled Internet.

An emergent algorithmic culture: The data-ization of online fandom in China

“…Revisiting the typology of fan productivity suggested by Fiske (1992), Sandvoss (2011) detailed the possible changes the internet imposes on fandom in terms of different types of productivity. The boundary between fans and audience has been blurred (Turner, 2011), leading to the phenomenon of ‘fanization’ in many aspects of social life (Fung, 2019; Sandvoss et al, 2017).…”

“…The routine practices of a considerable number of fans active on Weibo have been mediated by the algorithm, which ultimately reshapes digital fandom, instilling norms and values by encoding standardized participation activities (Alaimo and Kallinikos, 2017). These norms, including patterns of online practice and communal consensus, should not only be interpreted culturally but also be read as cultural practices mediated by technological affordances (Fung, 2019; Livingstone, 2018). Digital technology not only largely enhances human capabilities but also redefines the ‘individual’s behavior and decision-making, modes of socializing and participation, perception and thinking, [.…”

Online fandom communities as networked counterpublics: LGBTQ+ youths’ perceptions of representation and community climate

“…Additionally, continued improvements in ICTs have increasingly facilitated development of intentionally online mass media (Fung and Boyle, 2019). Respondents described a growing canon of developed-for-online content (e.g., web series and indie games) that was also perceived as more LGBTQ+ inclusive.…”

“My baby should feel no wronged!”: Digital fandoms and emotional capitalism in China

“…The tension between individuals, community, and various patterns of participation or fan tradition constructs the shape of digital fandom, as different patterns of fan participations can only be formalized in conflict, power combats, and the claimed rationale of legitimacy. In this shifting, the fandomization of digital industry (Fung, 2019) and the digitalization of fandom (Yin, 2020) have both be observed as new phenomenon in the digital era. This article depicts how the logic of digital fandom reshaped the so-called "traditional" fan culture, arguing that the influence of emotional capitalism on digital fandoms lies in the incarnation of virtual fan object, the embodying emotional engagement, and the reconstruction of multi-social network.…”