Streaming Queer Content: LGBTQ Media on BVOD and SVOD Services in Australia

Abstract

This article analyzes the strategies through which Broadcast Video on Demand (BVOD) and Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) services make queer titles available and discoverable to users. While streaming video services operate globally and the issue of LGBTQ inclusion is not solely a national one, Australia’s complex history of LGBTQ representation in film and television offers a unique context to explore these issues. This article asks: How is queer content categorized and promoted on BVOD and SVOD services in Australia? How easily discovered is this content? And how does this impact the visibility and inclusion of LGBTQ identities within the Australian screen media landscape? Drawing on critical librarianship and catalog analysis, this article reveals discrepancies between curated categories and search results, the failure of search tools to recognize language associated with LGBTQ identities, and the obscuring of queer content within streaming video libraries.