Is Medium Still the Message? The Vague Relationship Between Broadcasting, Streaming, and Media Audiences

1. In the Grey Area of Media and Audiences

Marshall McLuhan’s famous assertion that “the medium is the message” and the affordances of a medium (e.g., television, radio, and the Internet) shape how people perceive and interact with the world, often reshaping cultural and social structures in ways that content cannot. Could this phrase related to mass media still be applied today?

Media usage in contemporary society has undergone significant transformation over recent years, also mirroring broader changes in social interactions. New norms and terminologies have emerged, influencing not only the way we engage in human relationships but also how we consume news and entertainment. While broadcasting and streaming platforms are engaged in a competitive struggle for the attention of modern audiences, they simultaneously navigate an exploratory relationship characterized by a complex interplay of complementary and competitive dynamics. Using Generation Z slang, this could be described as a ‘situationship’, an undefined relationship that lacks commitment boundaries or clear labels (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.).

2. Exploring the Industry’s Perspective

In the contemporary media landscape, traditional media continue to dominate original professional content production, although digital platforms such as YouTube and Netflix are rapidly gaining ground as major distributors. Broadcasters are strategizing to retain viewers by encouraging remediation (Bolter et al., 1999) of legacy formats and recontextualizing them on streaming platforms to enhance brand awareness, reach, and audience engagement while preserving core content and formats. In addition, streaming platforms, such as YouTube, strategically reach out to Hollywood studios and television networks to license and showcase their traditional formats, attracting audiences (especially older ones) that seek the comfort viewing of high-quality, familiar programming.

Angelou et al. (2024) sought to deepen their understanding of the relationship between traditional media and new media platforms. Traditional media are increasingly exploiting the opportunities provided by new media to reach the public while streaming media targets the engagement ‘currency’. They understand the gate-keeping relationship between platforms and traditional media, investigating the extent to which legacy media are empowered by and dependent on social media through a rare large-scale survey (3-month duration, 16 variables, 50 publishers’ websites, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts). They state that traditional media use new media platforms, selecting, though, the classic approach from the top (journalists) to the bottom (audience) for the diffusion of content. However, traditional media use social media metrics as agenda-setting factors.

As with any type of relationship, its quality depends not only on strategies but also on the willingness and capabilities of the individuals involved. Two studies featured in this special issue underscore the challenges faced by media professionals in fully adapting to and comprehending new technologies, let alone employing them in a constructive and effective workflow.

Gioltzidou et al. (2024), exploring the changes to the media landscape in Greece, emphasize that journalists are, indeed, willing to adopt new methods of communication with citizens. Simultaneously, however, they strive to apply the ethical principles of journalism on the network. In their thorough 11-year study, they investigate the relationship between traditional and new media platforms resting on the network theory of power, a concept pioneered by the Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells. According to Castells (1996), entities such as traditional broadcasters and new media belong to “a set of interconnected nodes” in the information age which create an incredibly dynamic and open system, capable of innovation while maintaining its equilibrium. Through comparative analysis of journalists’ participation in political discourse on Twitter (now named X) throughout seven distinct election periods, Gioltzidou et al. conclude that journalists and traditional media in Greece have adopted online culture to a far lesser extent than their counterparts in Western countries.

Garganas (2024) explores the reallocation of advertising, led by the redesign of the relationship between the media and audiences. They conclude that digital advertising only partially incorporates and exploits the advantages of enriched, multimedia, interactive, and personalized content, characteristics that would potentially differentiate it to a greater extent from advertising shown in traditional media, especially television. Garganas addresses the research gap regarding cross-media synergies of video advertising on traditional and online media and points out that audiences respond better to synergies of traditional and streaming media since cross-media campaigns are perceived as more persuasive. Moreover, that convergence in media usage patterns contributes also to the change in advertising content. As entertainment remains the most-consumed type of content on social media and streaming platforms, advertising has increasingly adopted an entertaining approach to engage and retain audiences. This shift is driven by the need to meet the expectations of increasingly demanding consumers, particularly in the context of the prevalent “skip ad” culture online. This highlights another strong point of streaming platforms that Garganas (2024) points out; brand placement integrates into the content, avoiding interrupting the viewing experience, as traditional advertising does.

3. Exploring the Audience’s Role

The mission and role of audiences in the public sphere are being redefined by granting a more active role in choosing and evaluating content, following the participatory paradigm in journalism (Saridou & Veglis, 2021; Nikolopoulou et al., 2022). Moreover, young audiences tend to favor the nonprofessional content production of streaming platforms, because they value it as authentic and more reliable (A. N. Podara, 2021; A. Podara and Kalliri, 2023; Nicolaou et al., 2024), whereas general audiences tend to favor sensational content versus quality news (Kostarella & Palla, 2024). In this context, it is crucial to recognize that the evolving media landscape is influenced not only by advancements in technological affordances but also by audiences’ critical evaluation of the content/role of each medium.

In this Special Issue, Orfanidou and Panagiotou (2024) provide valuable insights by examining how this evolving context impacts young audiences’ media usage, particularly their perceptions of broadcast television. Their research underscores the declining status of broadcast media in comparison with online platforms. The study results showed that Greek participants aged 15–18 years old present low trust in TV news, moderately believe its content is influenced by governments and elites, and display heightened skepticism and concern about the accuracy of televised content. Nevertheless, young people still watch TV, despite their low trust in TV as a medium. The findings of this research raise questions about which specific gratifications of traditional media are still appealing to younger generations.

In another country, where the media landscape has evolved in a different socio-political context, it is fascinating to observe quite different media usage patterns and audience perceptions about broadcasters and online media. According to the research of Anyanwu et al. (2024), Nigerian audiences resort to traditional media to confirm the authenticity of content, evaluating them as major and authentic news sources. The study also addresses the issue of confused audiences striving to find their role within the evolving “situationship” between traditional and online media. While audiences may view online media usage as a liberation from the monopoly of news and information control, they often turn to traditional media to provide valuable context and deeper understanding.

Focusing on another field of audience engagement, Bourchas and Gioltzidou (2024) explore the content produced in traditional media and users on Twitter during two political debates in Greece. More precisely, 368 tweets and 39 articles published in the mass media were studied using the content analysis method. Their findings highlight the interconnectedness of the public sphere regarding political discourse as discussions on social media are the same as those conducted by journalists in traditional media.

4. Is Medium Still the Message?

Castells highlights how digital networks serve as the dominant medium in modern society, emphasizing their decentralized, dynamic nature and their role in shaping power relations and global economies. In today’s network, the rules and power dynamics governing traditional and streaming media remain subjects of ongoing negotiation among stakeholders. A specific regulatory framework is still evolving, as media technological advancements continue to unfold. but its not just the technology that leads the change (Palomino-Flores et al., 2024).

As media navigate the complexities of defining their modes of coexistence while addressing ethical and organizational challenges, audiences similarly encounter an increasing responsibility within the information ecosystem, requiring them to critically engage with, interpret, and contribute to media content. McLuhan’s claim that “the medium is the message” remains highly applicable and also requires reinterpretation considering digital media’s complexity. Issues such as audience agency, participatory culture, algorithmic control, and surveillance all represent important topics, as addressed in this Special Issue by the scholars who responded to this call. In addition, this specific collection of studies gives us the opportunity to emphasize that research on media usage cannot be separated from socio-political or demographic factors. For example, Greece and Nigeria demonstrated differing audience perceptions of the status of traditional and streaming media, with significant generational variations in media usage observed within the same country.

Overall, the studies offer important insights for this ongoing discussion about media and audiences. Rather than rushing to define or label the relationship, the researchers focus on observing and understanding its dynamics, assessing how the relationship is evolving naturally.