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Abstract

This article investigates the relationship between the television industry and participatory audiences through a rhetoric of empowerment that frames audience engagement in particular ways. I focus on how contests based on the creation of user-generated content are utilized in the industry–audience relationship; here my primary case studies are the use of user-generated video contests for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and The Office. I explore how these shows try to produce and harness the activity of participatory audiences. Further, I argue that an emphasis on understanding the regimes of value for participants is key to understanding these experiments in digital audience retention.

Keywords

Digital interactivity rhetoric of empowerment television translation value

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The framing of value

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Keywords

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