TY - ABST

T1 - Researching How to Reach Young Audiences in the Current Media Landscape

AU - Redvall, Eva Novrup

PY - 2019/10/25

Y1 - 2019/10/25

N2 - This paper presents the theoretical and methodological foundations and main hypotheses of the research project ‘Reaching Young Audiences: Serial Fiction and Cross-Media Storyworlds for Children and Young Audiences’ (supported by Independent Research Fund Denmark for 2019-2023), focusing particularly on the project’s ambition to bring production and audience studies closer together while researching how to best reach children and young audience in the current media landscape. Based on previous research, the paper exemplifies how the producers of the hit series SKAM (2015- 2017) spent substantial time researching how to tell a story of relevance to 16-year old Norwegian girls (Redvall 2018), and how DR has successfully worked with incorporating audience feedback in their high-end series for many years (Redvall 2017). The lines between production and reception are blurring when Klassen (DR, 2016–) uses ‘junior editors’ to ensure constant input from the target audience members, and there are many other interesting attempts to reach young audiences through page 13 of 27 shorter cross-media formats and interactive storytelling, e.g. by incorporating social media elements and co-creative world-building in the story design. In the digital media landscape, the traditionally more separate stages of production, distribution and reception are converging and new relationships between creators, texts and audiences have emerged, not the least among young ‘first movers’. The paper discusses how we as scholars need to develop new theories, tools and collaborations to investigate these changes (Livingstone & Das 2013) and how this transnational research projects aims to do that through a comparative perspective across Denmark, Norway, the UK and Australia, all countries with a long tradition for public service content for children and young audiences.

AB - This paper presents the theoretical and methodological foundations and main hypotheses of the research project ‘Reaching Young Audiences: Serial Fiction and Cross-Media Storyworlds for Children and Young Audiences’ (supported by Independent Research Fund Denmark for 2019-2023), focusing particularly on the project’s ambition to bring production and audience studies closer together while researching how to best reach children and young audience in the current media landscape. Based on previous research, the paper exemplifies how the producers of the hit series SKAM (2015- 2017) spent substantial time researching how to tell a story of relevance to 16-year old Norwegian girls (Redvall 2018), and how DR has successfully worked with incorporating audience feedback in their high-end series for many years (Redvall 2017). The lines between production and reception are blurring when Klassen (DR, 2016–) uses ‘junior editors’ to ensure constant input from the target audience members, and there are many other interesting attempts to reach young audiences through page 13 of 27 shorter cross-media formats and interactive storytelling, e.g. by incorporating social media elements and co-creative world-building in the story design. In the digital media landscape, the traditionally more separate stages of production, distribution and reception are converging and new relationships between creators, texts and audiences have emerged, not the least among young ‘first movers’. The paper discusses how we as scholars need to develop new theories, tools and collaborations to investigate these changes (Livingstone & Das 2013) and how this transnational research projects aims to do that through a comparative perspective across Denmark, Norway, the UK and Australia, all countries with a long tradition for public service content for children and young audiences.

UR - https://ecreatelevisionstudies2019.wordpress.com/programme/

M3 - Conference abstract for conference

Y2 - 24 October 2019 through 25 October 2019

ER -