Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This article addresses the features, affordances, and limitations that emerge when purchasing and using digital subscriptions, particularly streaming entertainment services. Using a qualitative approach through 15 in-depth interviews with European subscribers of digital services such as Netflix or Spotify Premium, the research inquired into the users’ personal experience with digital subscriptions. The results show two scenarios: in one, subscribers enjoy the flexibility and freedom offered with the digital subscription services to customize their media consumption and entertainment preferences; on the other, digital subscriptions limit and restrict the activity of their subscribers, for example, by fragmenting audiovisual content on different platforms.

Keywords

digital entertainment digital platforms digital subscriptions qualitative interviews streaming subscribers

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Arditi

(2018) Digital subscriptions: The unending consumption of music in the digital era. Popular Music & Society 41(3): 302–318.

Arditi

(2021) Streaming Culture: Subscription Platforms and the Unending Consumption of Culture. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited.

Badiei

Popkova

(2021) Transnational familyhood in times of imposed separation: How the US-based Iranian students use ICTs to enact relationships with their parents after the Travel Ban. New Media & Society 1–17.

Bonini

Gandini

(2019) “First week is editorial, second week is algorithmic”: Platform gatekeepers and the platformization of music curation. Social Media + Society 5(4): 1–11.

Bucher

(2018) If. . .Then: Algorithmic Power and Politics. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Burchell

(2017) Everyday communication management and perceptions of use: How media users limit and shape their social world. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 23(4): 409–424.

Burroughs

Rugg

(2014) Extending the broadcast: Streaming culture and the problems of digital geographies. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 58(3): 365–380.

Castro

Rigby

Cabral

, et al. (2021) The binge-watcher’s journey: Investigating motivations, contexts, and affective states surrounding Netflix viewing. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 27(1): 3–20.

Chen

Thorson

(2021) Perceived individual and societal values of news and paying for subscriptions. Journalism 22(6): 1296–1316.

10.

Chyi

(2012) Paying for what? How much? And why (not)? Predictors of paying intent for multiplatform newspapers. The International Journal on Media Management 14(3): 227–250.

11.

Cocola-Gant

(2019) Gentrification and displacement: Urban inequality in cities of late capitalism. In: Schwanen

van Kempen

(eds) Handbook of Urban Geography. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 297–310.

12.

Colbjørnsen

(2021) The streaming network: Conceptualizing distribution economy, technology, and power in streaming media services. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 27(5): 1264–1287.

13.

Forbes (2021) Convertir a tus clientes en suscriptores, el nuevo modelo de negocio. Available at: https://www.forbes.com.mx/ad-convierte-a-tus-clientes-en-suscriptores-e-impulsa-a-tu-empresa/ (accessed 8 June 2022).

14.

Fosker

Cheung

(2021) Pricing and proposition testing in subscription economies. Applied Marketing Analytics 6(3): 211–220.

15.

García

Martínez

Bonales

(2022) TikTok and Twitch: New media and formulas to impact the Generation Z. ICONO 14 20(1): 1–29.

16.

Gordon

Hill

(2022) Too many game subscription services? Here’s how to choose. Available at: https://www.wired.com/story/best-game-subscriptions/ (accessed 20 June 2022).

17.

Gubrium

Holstein

Marvasti

, et al. (eds) (2012) The SAGE Handbook of Interview Research: The Complexity of the Craft. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

18.

Hagen

Lüders

(2017) Social streaming? Navigating music as personal and social. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 23(6): 643–659.

19.

Hasebrink

Hepp

(2017) How to research cross-media practices? Investigating media repertoires and media ensembles. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 23(4): 362–377.

20.

Herbert

Thurman

(2007) Paid content strategies for news websites: An empirical study of British newspapers’ online business models. Journalism Practice 1(2): 208–226.

21.

Herbig

Herrmann

Tyma

(eds) (2014) Beyond New Media: Discourse and Critique in a Polymediated Age. London: Lexington Books.

22.

Hill

(2020) Paywalls, newsletters, and the new echo chamber. Available at: https://www.wired.com/story/paywalls-newsletters-and-the-new-echo-chamber/ (accessed 2 June 2022).

23.

Jain

(2020a) The surprising early history of the subscription model. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/surprising-early-history-subscription-model-ajay-jain (accessed 10 June 2022).

24.

Jain

(2020b) Subscription businesses in the 20th century: A look across industries. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/subscription-businesses-20th-century-look-across-industries-ajay-jain/ (accessed 10 June 2022).

25.

Kelly

(2022) “This title is no longer available”: Preserving television in the streaming age. Television & New Media 23(1): 3–21.

26.

Klopčič

Hojnik

Bojnec

, et al. (2020) Global transition to the subscription economy: Literature review on business model changes in the media landscape. Managing Global Transitions 18(4): 323–348.

27.

Kübler

Seifert

Kandziora

(2021) Content valuation strategies for digital subscription platforms. Journal of Cultural Economics 45(2): 295–326.

28.

Lim

(2016) Effects of social media users’ attitudes on their perceptions of the attributes of news agency content and their intentions to purchase digital subscriptions. New Media & Society 18(8): 1403–1421.

29.

Lindlof

Taylor

(2011) Qualitative Communication Research Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

30.

Lobato

(2018) Rethinking international TV flows research in the age of Netflix. Television & New Media 19(3): 241–256.

31.

Lobato

Lotz

(2021) Beyond streaming wars: Rethinking competition in video services. Media Industries Journal 8(1): 89–108.

32.

Long

(2022) An update to paid sharing. Available at: https://about.netflix.com/en/news/update-to-paid-sharing (accessed 22 July 2022).

33.

López

(2020) La era del ‘homo suscriptor’. Available at: https://elpais.com/economia/2020-10-31/la-economia-del-producto-ha-muerto-viva-la-suscripcion.html (accessed 8 June 2022).

34.

Lotz

(2021) In between the global and the local: Mapping the geographies of Netflix as a multinational service. International Journal of Cultural Studies 24(2): 195–215.

35.

Lüders

(2021) Pushing music: People’s continued will to archive versus Spotify’s will to make them explore. European Journal of Cultural Studies 24(4): 952–969.

36.

Madianou

(2015) Polymedia and ethnography: Understanding the social in social media. Social Media + Society 1(1): 1–3.

37.

Madianou

(2021) Polymedia life. Pragmatics and Society 12(5): 857–864.

38.

Madianou

Miller

(2012a) Migration and New Media: Transnational Families and Polymedia. New York, NY: Routledge.

39.

Madianou

Miller

(2012b) Polymedia: Towards a new theory of digital media in interpersonal communication. International Journal of Cultural Studies 16(2): 169–187.

40.

Nechushtai

Zalmanson

(2021) ‘Stay informed’, ‘become an insider’ or ‘drive change’: Repackaging newspaper subscriptions in the digital age. Journalism 22(8): 2035–2052.

41.

Nieborg

Poell

(2018) The platformization of cultural production: Theorizing the contingent cultural commodity. New Media & Society 20(11): 4275–4292.

42.

Peters

(2022) Netflix to partner with Microsoft on new Ad supported subscription plan. Available at: https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-partners-with-microsoft (accessed 22 July 2022).

43.

Pilipets

(2019) From Netflix streaming to Netflix and chill: The (dis)connected body of serial binge-viewer. Social Media + Society 5(4): 1–13.

44.

Podara

Matsiola

Kotsakis

, et al. (2021) Generation Z’s screen culture: Understanding younger users’ behaviour in the television streaming age: The case of post-crisis Greece. Critical Studies in Television An International Journal of Television Studies 16(2): 91–109.

45.

Prey

(2020) Locating power in platformization: Music streaming playlists and curatorial power. Social Media + Society 6(2): 1–11.

46.

Rodríguez Ortega

(2023) ‘We pay to buy ourselves’: Netflix, spectators & streaming. Journal of Communication Inquiry 47: 126–144.

47.

Savary

Dhar

(2020) The uncertain self: How self-concept structure affects subscription choice. Journal of Consumer Research 46(5): 887–903.

48.

Spilker

Colbjørnsen

(2020) The dimensions of streaming: Toward a typology of an evolving concept. Media Culture & Society 42(7–8): 1210–1225.

49.

Striphas

(2015) Algorithmic culture. European Journal of Cultural Studies 18(4–5): 395–412.

50.

Tattersall Wallin

Nolin

(2020) Time to read: Exploring the timespaces of subscription-based audiobooks. New Media & Society 22(3): 470–488.

51.

Towse

(2020) Dealing with digital: The economic organisation of streamed music. Media Culture & Society 42(7-8): 1461–1478.

52.

Tryon

(2013) On-Demand Culture: Digital Delivery and the Future of Movies. New Brunwswick: Rutgers University Press.

53.

Turow

(2017) Personalization. In: Ouellette

Gray

(eds) Keywords for Media Studies. New York, NY: NYU Press, 135–137.

54.

Watercutter

(2020) The streaming wars could finally end in 2021. Available at: https://www.wired.com/story/disney-plus-hbo-max-streaming-wars (accessed 3 July 2022).

55.

Wayne

(2018) Netflix, Amazon, and branded television content in subscription video on-demand portals. Media Culture & Society 40(5): 725–741.

56.

Wayne

(2022) Netflix audience data, streaming industry discourse, and the emerging realities of ‘popular’ television. Media Culture & Society 44(2): 193–209.

57.

Wayne

Castro

(2021) SVOD global expansion in cross-national comparative perspective: Netflix in Israel and Spain. Television & New Media 22(8): 896–913.

58.

Webster

(2021) The promise of personalisation: Exploring how music streaming platforms are shaping the performance of class identities and distinction. New Media & Society 1–23.

59.

Weingartner

(2021) Digital omnivores? How digital media reinforce social inequalities in cultural consumption. New Media & Society 23(11): 3370–3390.

60.

Wilkins

(2019) The rise of the industrial subscription economy. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/04/29/the-rise-of-the-industrial-subscription-economy/?sh=2834b9fe65d8 (accessed 20 June 2022).

Digital subscribers: Between freedom and constraint

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References