Nina Froschauer
Culture thrives on people: those who create it and those who experience it. These processes don’t arise in a vacuum, but are shaped by interests, power, and economics and in this landscape the Austrian film industry faces a challenge: producing good films alone is not enough. They need funding, an interested audience and visibility. Because films only unfold their meaning when they can be found, seen, and cognitively processed. How is visibility achieved in the age of streaming platforms? And who decides what we see?
This blog post examines the discoverability of Austrian films on video-on-demand (VOD) streaming platforms in the context of media and cultural governance. It argues that platform governance structures prioritise globally dominant and commercially profitable content, limiting the visibility of local and independent productions.While streaming platforms are often associated with audience choice and access to diverse content, this analysis demonstrates that visibility is distributed unevenly and shaped primarily by data-driven recommendation systems, engagement metrics, and corporate interests, resulting in the marginalization of many local film productions.This raises broader questions about platform governance, particularly concerning cultural diversity, public value, and the regulation of digital visibility infrastructures.
Our viewing habits have changed since streaming services became so popular. We used to go to the cinema, rent DVDs, or browse through electronics stores. These days, it’s different. We open Netflix or Amazon Prime and are immediately presented with our favorite films. These recommendations are very convenient, but they’re based on complex algorithmic systems. They analyze our behavior, collect data, and calculate what will keep us on the platform as long as possible. Have you ever tried to find a small, local production on Netflix or Amazon? I tried and discovered that while they host huge libraries, the film I was looking for was nowhere to be found. Smaller productions don’t seem worthy of release by the major providers because these systems primarily serve economic interests. Platforms often favor their own productions or particularly successful content because they secure engagement and subscriptions. This influences access to cultural diversity. English-language US productions dominate the stage, while local films often remain difficult to find.
This shift affects our viewing habits, but also raises questions of data privacy, infrastructure, and power. Streaming on these platforms means constant data collection managed in data centres and new forms of digital consumption control. No click remains innocent; instead, it becomes a stored preference, part of a digital avatar, stored in a database controlled by giant corporations.
The literature shows that the European market is heavily influenced by US platform companies. These companies have enormous budgets, global reach, and access to user data which leads to a disadvantage for smaller film industries like in Austria.
In an interview with WatchAUT (an Austrian streaming platform for domestic films), the complexity of this situation became clear. WatchAUT does collaborate with international platforms and sells film rights to companies like Netflix and Apple TV. At the same time, they emphasized the importance of going to cinemas and supporting Austrian platforms if one wants to strengthen domestic film culture in the long term.
The user numbers and marketing budgets of the major providers are on a scale that is unattainable for local streaming services. WatchAUT is also particularly critical of the fact that platforms like Netflix have hardly any sections that visibly promote local productions. WatchAUT therefore pursues a different approach: The platform does not use individual tracking for algorithmic personalization. Films are not recommended based on calculated user profiles, but rather made visible through curatorial decisions. The Kino VOD Club also follows this path. The platform shows arthouse films and supports independent cinemas by reinvesting revenue from film rentals.
While large platforms organize visibility according to data-driven profit logics, WatchAUT and Kino VOD Club understand curation as cultural mediation. People decide which films are shown, not data sets. “Curation brings a human influence into what other humans should watch, while algorithms can’t and won’t serve the need for people to find new and challenging things. To a computer, you’re a consumer. To a curator, though: you’re a friend,” as Eric Sipple says. Curation can help make new perspectives visible and avoid “filter bubbles,” where users are repeatedly shown similar content. Ultimately, the question arises: What can and should films evoke in their audiences?
Discoverability describes how content is found. In a world of virtually unlimited choice, discoverability determines the success of a production. Platformization is fundamentally changing the organization of cultural visibility. Value creation is concentrated in global companies, while local structures have to fight for attention. Curated platforms can offer a counter-model to this. They strengthen regional value creation, promote Austrian productions, and open up spaces for new discoveries and therefore can safeguard cultural diversity in the digital space. Culture thrives on people: those who create it and those who experience it. Both need spaces where encounters are possible.
This blog post was written as part of the Horizon Europe project StreamSCAPES (Project ID: 101177811) at the Media Governance and Industries Research Lab. The project investigates existing challenges, as well as knowledge, practice, and policy gaps in Video-on-Demand (VoD) services in Europe. For more information, please visit the StreamSCAPES website.
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