Disruptive AVT workflows in the age of streaming: The Netflix equation
SerenellaMassidda
Roehampton University
Abstract
In the last decade, media industries have witnessed a shift in the way audiovisual content is localised,
broadcast, and consumed by multifaceted audiences: from traditional linear TV to subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services.
While this major shift has been well-documented by media studies scholars (Lotz 2014;
Lobato 2017a, 2017b; Storstein Spilker and Colbjørnsen 2020), the overall effect it has had on audiovisual
translation (AVT) is relatively under-researched within Translation Studies. Hence, this article aims to delve into the current
state of the art of AVT within a mediascape dominated by non-linear over-the-top (OTT) platforms. Drawing on the impact that
streaming solutions such as Amazon Prime, Disney+, and Netflix have had on the acceleration of AVT workflows worldwide as a way to
localise a high volume of content created to reach global audiences, my analysis focuses on their impact on the way subtitling
workflows are managed and turnaround times scheduled. This study focuses on the day-of-broadcast (DOB) model, the media release
strategy intended to make audiovisual content available ‘now and everywhere’. The disruptive nature of DOB models in localisation
workflows is investigated using a case study, the ad hoc subtitling workflow devised for Netflix’s
Chelsea, and analysed using a qualitative research method. The aim is to unveil the practices behind the
scenes of the first global talk show subtitled in twenty languages with a turnaround time of only fourteen hours.
This article explores the new mediascape produced by the emergence of online streaming solutions. Drawing on the impact that
subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services have had on the acceleration of AVT workflows worldwide, my analysis, based on
documentary analysis, fundamentally qualitative in its nature, focuses on the disruptive force of streaming video content providers
that are rapidly growing in popularity. The analytical method employed for the present research was selected as a way to examine
pre-existing data and interpret documentary evidence in order to elicit meaning, gain understanding, and ultimately develop empirical
and critical knowledge (Bowen 2009) on a topic that has been discussed in the field of
Media Studies, yet is still relatively under-researched in Translation Studies. In the last decade, and particularly in 2020, a year
characterised by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the entertainment and localisation industries have witnessed and undergone
ground-breaking transformations that have considerably affected media consumption.
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