Television Series and Out of Home Advertising: Video on Demand in the Contemporary City

Abstract

This article explores the main advertising strategies employed by operators of subscription video on demand (SVOD) services in the Spanish audiovisual market. Methodologically, the premieres and advertising campaigns of five operators (Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Apple TV+) have been monitored in order to identify the main works promoted. The article explores the relationship between TV series and out of home advertising through two case studies: Sky Rojo (Netflix) and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+). Employing mapping and analysis, different out of home advertising actions are discovered as paradigmatic examples of the advertising presence of digital platforms in contemporary cities. Madrid is the main scenario for observation, but the paper also includes examples from other European, US, Latin American and Australian cities. The results reveal two key dimensions of out of home advertising for SVOD services: the material dimension, more linked to the medium, size, presence and visibility of the advertising text; and the symbolic dimension, more linked to the advertising text and discourse. Furthermore, links between offline and online territories are revealed, pointing towards the bonds between out of home advertising, social networks and media, as well as to the everyday reconstruction and mediatisation of the city.