Research topic
Discoverability and content curation processes on Internet platforms
The rise of streaming services, the transition to IP-delivery and cloud systems, and the evolution of media convergence are shifting the ability to control content discovery away from audiences and traditional content providers, while moving towards a much more layered and networked system, where content curation strategies, such as search and discoverability functions, have great influence on what content can be found and accessed online. This research aims to examine industry trends and policy needs in these areas through an organisational analysis centred on the United Kingdom (UK). In this context, I am conducting experts’ interviews with policy makers and industry representatives from key actors of the Internet-distributed television industry, from Internet platform organisations, to pay-tv operators, smart-TVs manufacturers and content providers, like public service media organisations.
Questions about the public interest in these processes – about which content or content providers should be easier to discover, while others are made less visible or moderated away – are now key issues in the content distribution strategies of media and tech companies. This timely research also contributes to ongoing policy debates both at European, in the framework of the EU Digital Services Acts and Digital Markets Acts, as well as in different national contexts as it pertains to online content policies, prominence regimes, like Ofcom EPG Rules, PSB regulation, and broader issues on media pluralism and competition law.
This PhD project is supported by the Economics and Social Research Council (ESRC).
Supervisors: Damian Tambini, Robin Mansell
Biography
Eleonora has a background in management, media economics, media governance, and digital policy. Before starting her PhD, she worked for the Legal and Policy Department of the European Broadcasting Union, and she was European Affairs Advisor for RAI, the Italian public service broadcaster. For both organisation she was working on media policy issues, overseeing the developments of relevant EU regulatory framework and initiatives, with a focus on media research & innovation, platforms, media freedom and cultural diversity. She also worked as project manager for the EBU Data and AI Initiative in 2016-2017, and she was member of the Steering Committee of MediaRoad, an EU-funded project aimed at developing a European media ecosystem for innovation. Alongside her current PhD, she works as external experts and advisor, consulting on media economics and digital policy challenges, to various organisations and institutions, including the Council of Europe, the Journalism Trust Initiative, the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, and BBC.
Eleonora’s academic background is interdisciplinary and international, driven by her passion and expertise for the media industry. In her native Italy, she completed her BA degree (First Class Honours) in Economics and Management of Arts, Culture and Communication from Luigi Bocconi University, where she studied the managerial side of the media industry. She also completed a Research Master (Magna Cum Laude) in Media and Performance Studies at Utrecht University, during which she specialised in the political economy of digital and online media. She was selected and awarded the certification in “Leadership and Gender in the Society 4.0” by Soroptimist International and SDA Bocconi (2020), and the Honours Programme in Entrepreneurship and Business by Utrecht University (UUBC).