Emerging Dynamics in Audiences' Consumption of Trans-media Products

The Cases of Mad Men and Game of Thrones as a Comparative Study between Italy and New Zealand

By (author) Carmen Spano

Publication date:

27 November 2020

Publisher

Anthem Press

Dimensions:

229x153mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781785275142

The book investigates the new forms of empowered agency possessed by national audiences with reference to two particular television texts: Game of Thrones and Mad Men. The two popular American TV shows are highly successful products of the convergence era, characterized by trans-media storytelling as a strategy and the interconnection of audiences’ multiple practices of reception and fruition. The book argues how the analysis of audience engagement with trans-media texts will disclose important information about the various ways people organize their lives around media and how these activities help them to make sense of the world they live in.

1. Introduction; 2. Rethinking Audiences in a Trans-Media, Transnational Age; 3. National Audiences and Consumption Trends in Nondominant Media Markets; 4. The Peculiarities of Mad Men and Game of Thrones in the Trans-Media Ecosystem; 5. Trans- Media Storytelling and Fans’ Modes of Engagement: An Overview; Appendix I: Survey Questions; Appendix II: Focus Group Topics; Bibliography; Index.

Combining transmedia studies with fan studies, Carmen Spano uses a range of qualitative and quantitative audience data to make a sophisticated case for the ongoing importance of primary textual structures at a time of transmedia storytelling/extensions. This book sets out a compelling contrast between Mad Men and Game of Thrones, as well as assessing national contexts of consumption, and evaluating the roles of ‘casual’ or ‘hardcore’ fandom. We’ve long known audiences are active; this study expertly teases out exactly how its contemporary audiences encounter transmedia TV. — Professor Matt Hills, author of Fan Cultures