Katharina Hoelck

Threat or Opportunity? Cultural Diversity in the Era of Digital Platforms in the EU

Digitization results in decisive changes in the value chains of the cultural sectors. The provision and distribution of cultural goods is increasingly organized through over-the-top (OTT) platforms. This leads to the question of how the increasing dominance of platforms impacts the diversity of cultural goods. In interviews with industry experts the tensions arising from the increasing domination of platforms in the sector are explored and its potential impact on the diversity of produced and consumed cultural goods outlined. The paper concludes that additional regulatory measures are needed to protect cultural diversity in the age of digital platforms.

What Happened to the Context? Extending the Integrated Model of Entertainment Consumption by Embedding it in its Social and Technological Context

When studying psychological effects of mass media, the context shaping the entertainment experience is often neglected. Yet, to be able to understand the entertainment experience as a whole, it is necessary to acknowledge the highly intertwined nature of social situation, technology and content. Thus, as repeatedly demanded by entertainment researchers, this paper is integrating the users’ choice between different sources of need satisfaction, enjoyment of social situations of reception, technology affinity, motivations and demographics in a media psychological model without closing the door on quantitative testing. The extended model is validated in an online study (N=594). We show, that the choice for a medium is influenced by the user’s enjoyment of the social situation in which the reception is supposed to take place as well as by the user’s technological affinity. Likewise, the choice for an entertainment offer is shaped by the user’s dominantly hedonic or eudaimonic motivations.