‘Recommended for you’: A distant reading of BBC iPlayer

Abstract

Video-on-demand (VOD) interfaces have become a ubiquitous feature of contemporary screen culture. But despite their prevalence and the significant amount of time we spend in these liminal spaces, these interfaces are – within the field of TV studies at least – relatively under-theorised and rarely the subject of focused critical interrogation. Indeed, it has been noted that there are simply ‘no established methodologies in TV studies for studying interfaces’ (Johnson, 2017: 124). In addressing this methodological gap, this article develops and demonstrates an empirical and quantitative approach to the analysis of television VOD interfaces, taking its cue from ‘distant reading’ ( Moretti, 2013 ).