volume 03 issue 06/2014 TV GOES SOCIAL ITALIAN BROADCASTING STRATEGIES AND THE CHALLENGES OF CONVERGENCE Luca Barra Dipartimento di Scienze della Comunicazione e dello Spettacolo Universita` Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Via S. Agnese 2 20123, Milan Italy
[email protected] Massimo Scaglioni1 Dipartimento di Scienze della Comunicazione e dello Spettacolo Universita` Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Via S. Agnese 2 20123, Milan Italy
[email protected] Abstract: In recent years, the Italian television scenario has become fully convergent, and social TV is an activity – and a hip buzzword – indicating both a rich set of possibilities for the audience to engage with TV shows, and an important asset developed by the television industry to provide such engagement, with promotional and economic goals. Mainly adopting the perspective of the production cultures of Italian broadcasters, the essay will explore the “Italian way to social television”, highlighting the strategies adopted by networks and production companies to encourage online television discourse and to exploit it as a content, a marketing device or a source of supplementary income. Keywords: convergence, social TV, second screen, social media, television industry, Italian television 1 Introduction. Extension, Access, Brand: Three Keywords of Convergent TV The first decade of the 2000s can be considered an ‘explosive period’ for media and television2, in Italy as in many other European countries. The completion of the switch-off process in 2012, leading to the establishment of digital terrestrial 1 This essay was conceived jointly by the two authors. As for the actual writing, Luca Barra is responsible for sections 2, 5 and 6; Massimo Scaglioni, for sections 1, 3 and 4.