TV series: marketplace icon

ABSTRACT

Series were introduced into daily media culture through radio in 1930. By 1950, they had evolved into programmes that are built on the serial narrative structure that still exists today. Decades after their introduction, TV series still continue to serve as a programming staple for TV channels around the globe and are the building blocks of video-on-demand and streaming business models. TV series reflect on consumers’ both mundane and spectacular life events, and are reflected on by consumers. They may be considered iconic due to their ability to simultaneously disturb, provoke, divide, and consolidate audiences with their content. Consumption of TV series has, over time, transformed from low culture activity to “legitimate” cultural consumption. This paper illuminates the global flow of TV series, their place at the intersection of culture and politics, the role that they play in consumers’ lives, and why they can be viewed as a marketplace icon.

KEYWORDS:

• TV series
• marketplace icon
• politics
• culture industry
• audiences
• cultural studies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Cagri Yalkin is Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Birmingham. Her research focuses on consumer socialization, audience reception and politics, with a wider consideration for social media and branding. Her published work includes transnational consumption of soap-operas and literature from a nation-branding perspective, consumption and censorship, and adolescents and consumption skills. Her research has previously been published in Journal of Business Research, European Management Review, New Media & Society, Journal of International Relations and Development, Journal of Management and Organization, Journal of Consumer Policy, and Advances in Consumer Research.