Research topic

The nostalgia economy: Netflix and new audiences in the digital age

Rodrigo's research interests surround the areas of audience studies, political economy, and the materiality of media and communications. With his PhD, he intends to study the “nostalgia economy”, the tendency found within the entertainment industries of creating mediatic iterations that mirror previous ones; for instance, the production of remakes or reboots. His research interrogates consumption practices of new audiences regarding products moored on nostalgic meanings in video-streaming services, specifically in Netflix. Furthermore, he aims to scrutinize the experience of new audiences as users of Netflix in terms of the viewership strategies they unfold, and the possible modes in which a narrative product is affected by, and developed within, this media platform. 

Keywords: audiences, materiality, new media, ideology

Supervisors: Professor Sonia Livingstone and Professor Lilie Chouliaraki

Biography

Rodrigo obtained two bachelor degrees in Mass Communication Science, one with emphasis in Media Production, and other in Public Relations, at the University of Costa Rica. Moreover, he completed a Master of Social Sciences in Media and Global Communication at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He has previously worked in market research and in diverse audio-visual projects as screenwriter and executive producer. He is currently an MPhil/PhD student at the London School of Economics and Political Science.