Audiences 2.0

Abstract

From large screen to television to personal devices, experiencing cinema shifted from being communal to familiar and intimate. The emotions, perceptions, understanding, practice, and behaviour of watching movies are simultaneously transforming. However, in a multi-cultural multi-lingual country like India, still carrying characteristics of Gemeinschaft, what is the impact of transnational online streaming platforms on its audiences? The chapter explores the possibility of changes among Indian audiences as a result of exposure to online streaming platforms. In examining the transformation of viewers, the chapter addresses audiences' changing relations with the screen. It traces the evolution of audiences based on the concepts of spectator and performer proposing the digital audience is now a performer rather than just a spectator. The chapter navigates the changing flow of online streaming with active audiences. It raises the concern of digital capitalism and resulting politics of aesthetics in the transformation of regional or national audiences to transnational audiences.