Default viewing

Reconceptualising choice and habit in television audience research

Bibliographic Data

ID6442010
AuthorsCatherine Johnson (0000-0001-9809-4444, University of Leeds, corresponding author), Ramon Lobato (0000-0002-1689-7233, RMIT, Australia), Alexa Scarlata (0000-0003-2841-8014, RMIT, Australia)
Year2025
Volume47
Issue5
Pages893-909
Publication date2025-01-26
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMedia Culture & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0163-4437 • E-ISSN: 1460-3675
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/01634437241313040
OpenAlexW4406954575
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited20

When choosing what to watch, television audiences habitually default to particular channels, shows and apps as part of their everyday routines. Additionally, streaming platforms and devices also default to particular content, services or ads as determined by their software settings. In other words, television viewing is commonly shaped by both behavioural and technological defaults. How can television audience research account for these two distinct, yet related, phenomena? What does defaulting mean for our understanding of media choice in the streaming age? Drawing on the authors’ recent empirical work, this article develops a conceptual framework for understanding the role of defaults in contemporary television viewing. Our analysis synthesises ideas from fields of knowledge that are rarely considered together – television audience studies, platform studies and the sociology of habit – to revise longstanding debates about defaults, and to update them for the present context of streaming television

Advertising · Business · Habit · Sociology · Cultural Industries and Urban Development · Media Studies and Communication · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology