As digital technology continues to develop, nonlinear characteristics have brought about tremendous changes in cultural production, especially in terms of audience participation and interactive experience. The role of the audience has changed from passive recipients to active participants. This change has not only changed the way content is consumed, but also reshaped the ecology of the entire film and television industry.

Lotz (2017) emphasized that “Internet-distributed television enables viewers to watch content on demand, breaking the linear playback mode of traditional television. This non-linear viewing mode has changed the audience’s viewing habits and content consumption methods.” The non-linear feature enables viewers to independently choose the viewing order and content, which greatly enhances the audience’s sense of participation and makes them more proactive in the viewing process. For example, streaming platforms such as Netflix allow users to choose the order in which episodes are played, and even provide functions such as “skip the opening”, “multiple language options”, “automatically jump to the next episode”, and “sound effects and visual clarity selection”. This flexibility enables viewers to experience video content more immersively by meeting their personalized needs.

On streaming platforms, viewers can not only choose episodes according to their own interests, but also participate in plot discussions. This active participation has inspired the creation of user-generated content (UGC), and viewers have begun to share their own interpretations, comments, and secondary creations on social media, further enhancing interactivity. Platforms such as Twitter and Instagram have become important places for viewers to discuss plots, characters, and their development, forming collective memories and discussion hotspots, and enhancing the audience’s sense of belonging to the content.

Short-form video platforms such as TikTok and YouTube create short, engaging content that appeals to fast-consuming audiences.

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In addition, fans can also create fan fiction, video clips or artworks based on a certain film or TV work. These creations not only enrich the narrative level of the original work, but also form a new cultural phenomenon. This interaction not only strengthens the connection between users, but also forms a specific cultural community. In these communities, users establish identity through discussion and re-creation of content. For example, the fan circles formed around popular film and television works not only promote the generation of UGC, but also promote the development of cross-media narrative.

Non-linear characteristics have profoundly changed the audience participation and interactive experience in film and television cultural production. Through active selection, social media interaction, fragmented consumption, personalized recommendations, and diversified creation, the audience plays an increasingly important role in this new environment. This not only enhances their sense of commitment to content, but also drives the entire film and television industry towards a more flexible and innovative development direction. With the continuous advancement of technology, future film and television cultural production will continue to explore new possibilities to meet the changing needs of audiences.

By: Jingwen Lei

Reference:

Amanda Lotz (2017), ‘Theorizing the Nonlinear Distinction of Internet-DistributedTelevision’, Portals: A Treatise on Internet Distributed Television