From Netflix Streaming to Netflix and Chill: The (Dis)Connected Body of Serial Binge-Viewer

Abstract

With the digitization of the entertainment industry, our everyday media encounters become increasingly data-saturated. In the framework of the digital attention economy, lifestyle technologies stimulate and modulate intensive participation on a regular basis. By conceptualizing the American streaming brand and content provider Netflix as a networked experiential environment, this article explores the practice of binge-watching in light of its multilayered possibilities for user engagement. With the focus on the affective entanglements of recommendation, attention, and attachment, the first part of the article foregrounds binge-watching as the main driving force behind Netflix’s promotional stance on personalization and quality. The second part provides a situated analysis on how binge-viewing technologies and bodies connect and disconnect by zooming in on users’ adaptations of the viral catchphrase “Netflix and chill” on Tumblr. Highlighting the embodied dynamics of engagement with today’s tech brands, I argue for thinking about the value of these dynamics as embedded in the digital logic of contact/capture.

Netflix: catálogo de contenido y flujo televisivo en tiempos de big data

“…Estos términos atracones o maratones (Siri, 2015;Arrojo & Martín, 2019;Tryon, 2015) deberían reemplazarse por culturas de uso debido a la enorme cantidad de opciones que tienen los consumidores y que por supuesto, están mediadas en forma importante por sus prácticas cotidianas y espacio doméstico (Turner, 2019). También es cierto que las maratones se han convertido en una estrategia de marketing utilizada por Netflix, con el objetivo de mantener a sus usuarios el mayor tiempo posible conectados dadas las condiciones experienciales que ofrece la plataforma en términos de elección del tiempo, hora, lugar y demás aspectos que puede elegir quien está frente a la pantalla (Pilipets 2019).…”

“…Los estudios publicados sobre Netflix se han orientado a temas de evolución de la plataforma y producción de contenidos originales de ficción (Cornejo, 2016;Heredia-Ruiz, 2017) modelo de negocio, distribución e internalización (Izquierdo-Castillo, 2015;Siri, 2016;Cunningham & Scarlata, 2020), modelos de televisión y plataformas OTT (Jenner, 2018;Kokas, 2020), binge watching (maratón de series) y relación con la audiencia (Pilipets, 2019;Arrojo & Martín, 2019), análisis desde la perspectiva geográfica de los medios en términos de infraestructura, distribución y espacio de la plataforma (Lobato, 2016). De igual manera, ha sido un tema de interés investigativo la aplicación del big data al negocio audiovisual, particularmente en el streaming, como el estudio de caso de Netflix realizado por (Fernández-Manzano, et al, 2016) en el que advierten que la administración de grandes cantidades de datos son fundamentales para tomar decisiones frente al contenido y los suscriptores.…”

Materiality, mediation and affective encounters: ‘Rising Phoenix’ and the cultural representation of disability

“…More broadly, the insights offered here demonstrate the importance of platforms such as Netflix in the representation of disability. Designed to afford high degrees of affective and cognitive involvement for audiences (Pilipets, 2019), platforms such as Netflix have become increasingly powerful in the political mattering of representation. Indeed, in recent years Netflix, among other digital streaming services, have commissioned content that intends to represent various marginalised identities/groups through sports documentary and film.…”

“…I focus particular attention on the role specific types of disability stories and Para sport bodies perform as part of the 'cinematic assemblage' 3 (see Rizzo 2012) to produce an economy of disability affects that is pedagogically powerful and meaningful for audiences and operate to promulgate cultural sites of disabled normativity. In so doing, I suggest that mediated sport culture, increasingly characterised by extra content delivered through OTT streaming services designed to afford high degrees of affective and cognitive involvement (Pilipets, 2019), has implications for the political mattering 4 of sport representation beyond the typical sport broadcast environment. In the balance of this paper, I draw largely on Sara Ahmed's (2004Ahmed's ( , 2010 use of affective economies to begin to extend our understanding of how affect is mobilised through language, emotions and aesthetics intimately connected with the cultural, cognitive and material in contemporary Para sport media.…”

Türkiye’de Netflix’in Serialler Açısından Genç Geleneksel Televizyon İzleyici Kullanım Pratiklerine Yansımaları

“…Dünya çapında "journals.sagepub.com" üzerinden aynı şekilde yapılan araştırmalar sonucunda Elena Pilipets'in "From Netflix Streaming to Netflix and Chill: The (Dis)Connected Body of Serial Binge-Viewer", Micheal L Wayne'ın "Netflix, Amazon, and branded television content in subscription video on-demand portals", Ramon Lobato'nun "Rethinking International TV Flows Research in the Age of Netflix", Evan Elkins'ın "Powered by Netflix: speed test services and video-on-demand's global development projects" makalelerine ve daha birçok makaleye ulaşılmıştır. 2 Araştırma sonucuna göre en güncellerinden 4 tanesinin seçildiği bu makalelerden Elena Pilipets'in yazdığı makalede, izleyici deneyimleri ve Netflix'in binge-watching özelliklerine değinilmiş, fakat tam olarak izleyici tercih yansımalarına dair bir çalışma ortaya konmamıştır. Diğer makaleler Netflix ve diğer dijital medya platformlarının çeşitli özelliklerine değinmiştir.…”