StreamSCAPES explores the under-utilised strengths, existing challenges and knowledge, practice and policy gaps in the VOD services in Europe, which hinder or enable their sustainable climate transition (SCT). It focuses on four key dimensions of the SCT of VOD services in Europe: 1) Industry and professionals - examining production processes, business models, and professional practices and needs; 2) Consumption and everyday practices - investigating user behaviours and patterns of media consumption, with an emphasis on children and youth; 3) Institutions and policies - analysing regulatory frameworks and governance structures; 4) Storytelling and narrative - exploring how SCT is communicated through audiovisual content.
Overall, the project acknowledges the growing importance of VOD platforms as central nodes within the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs), representing a dynamic intersection of technology, business models, consumption habits, and cultural meaning-making. By focusing on the VOD services, StreamSCAPES offers meaningful insights into how production, consumption, and decision-making processes within the CCIs can actively contribute and support the SCT in Europe and abroad. Specifically, StreamSCAPES will provide (a) an interdisciplinary mapping and assessment of the ways in which it is possible to substantially “green” the operations of VOD platforms in the CCIs, (b) pilot the transformative impact of VOD platforms to engage in “Blue Skies” generation of ideas through a ‘hubs’ based approach, in the form of a future studies approach with a special focus on children and youth, and (c) co-test the potential of VOD platforms to contribute to the SCT in line with the European Industrial Strategy and the European Green Deal. To achieve this, a multi-stakeholder team of four core academics and eight key stakeholders, including several European VOD platforms, combines original data and knowledge and collates best practices.
