Video-on-demand services (VODs) are often assumed by researchers to be black boxes, impenetrable to academic inquiry. Data on catalogs, audiences, and usage can be challenging to source and may be commercially protected, leading to concerns about transparency and access. Nonetheless, researchers have found many innovative workarounds to investigate VODs, publishing important studies of VOD libraries, recommendations, promotion, and use. This vibrant field of empirical VOD research now spans television and screen studies, media industry studies, platform studies, law, economics, computer science, and policy research. Such research is valuable for scholarly debate because it allows researchers, in the absence of industry disclosure, to better understand trends in production, distribution and consumption of content; and from a policy perspective, it is also vital to establish if local content quotas and requirements for prominence/visibility are being met.

The aim of this project is to foster collaboration around VOD research, bringing the scattered field together. Our mission is to stimulate and support research activities through workshops, publications, expert talks, and funding application initiatives. Through knowledge sharing between researchers, industry professionals, and scholars, we strive to advance knowledge, and share insights. Reach out if you have any ideas!