Production Unit - Audiences: America vs.UK vs. the World

America vs. UK vs. the World

It can certainly be said that things are little more on the extreme side when it comes to how content is presented to audiences from America as apposed to those in the UK but i feel that this can be related back to how things are marketed in the US. For example ELLE, a fashion, beauty and lifestyle magazine, advertised one of thier srticles on twitter in two completely different ways because one was in the uk and one was for Americans.

I believe it is this difference in the way the American and UK audiences are marketed to that after long periods of exposure starts to give them a "type" of maketing, TV, Film etc. that they like. If you see adverts for things ranging from breakfast cereal to lawnmowers that have deep voiced dramatic narrations which lots of action on screen then you grow acustom to that and start to expect that from eveything you watch. Which is why when they are sown something that isn't fast-paced adrenaline fuelled action-packed then they don't like it, they can not sustain their attention. 

Not only this but there also seems to be an extraordinary amount of over expression and almost fake happiness where Americans are concerned. For example, McDonald’s UK‘s tweets to customers contain far fewer exclamation marks and smiling emojis, in comparison to the McDonald’s U.S. twitter feed. When you campare American marketing to British marketing you could say it looks "boring" and a lot of the time when Americans watch british humour it's lost on them, not because they are unintelligent, but because they are aware of the small details and hints that sacrcasm or other comedic devices ar being used. As Ricky Gervais explains in an aticle for TIME about the difference between British and American audiences " We (brits) use sarcasm as a shield and a weapon. We avoid sincerity until it’s absolutely necessary. We mercilessly take the piss out of people we like or dislike basically. And ourselves. This is very important. Our brashness and swagger is laden with equal portions of self-deprecation. This is our license to hand it out". So he basically is saying that it is the culture that people are raised in, how we walk and talk in every day life that reflects the type of thing we watch and things we laugh at. He compares the two countires cultures in the following quote: "Americans are brought up to believe they can be the next president of the United States. Brits are told, 'It won’t happen for you'." However following Gervais' comment about Brits and their self-deprication, swagger and brashness he follows it with "This can sometimes be perceived as nasty if the recipients aren’t used to it. It isn’t. It’s play fighting. It’s almost a sign of affection if we like you, and ego bursting if we don’t. You just have to know which one it is." This to me perfectly sums up the difference between the two audiences, why Americans have thier TV shows and we have ours. Not because one is better than the other but because they are tailored to suit two different cultures, show one of one counties shows to another and more than likely they wouldnt understand it or they just plain wouldn't fancy watching it. A perfect example would a comparison between the American comedy show Big Bang Theory and the british comedy tv show This Country, an American audience would take the british show too literally and probably not understand the concept at all, they need one liners, obvious jokes not subtle humour that builds up. This to me is why Netflix proportions and limits what shows go where, otherwise they are spending money keeping content in countries that most likely are not going to watch it.

Not only this but along with the fact that the word awesome can never mentioned too much in America the easiest way to get an American audience on board is to be patriotic. America is the definition of patriotism, if you have an American flag in your front yard in the US you're a patriot, you're applauded and respected, you have a union jack in your front garden in the UK it's most likey the council will ask you to take it down as it offends other cultures. America as far as it is concerned is the middle of the universe, the best place in the world where you can do and be whtever you want yee haw Murica! However companies exploit this day in day out with the "American Dream" style attitude, the good old formula of "if you have guns, the american flag, a grizzly bear or a Bald Eagle the American people will like it". An example of the typical advertisement in America is the video below:

Being conditioned with this kind of stuff every time you put the TV on leads to a certain style of film or TV programme that is most successful in the US; make it dramatic, make it attention grabbing, have a plot twist in it (if it's not too complicated) and have lots of action (explosions prefferably). This of course works in Hollywood because... well name a big block-buster that has made millions (*cough* Marvel's last 22 films *cough*) that didn't have loads of action a few cheeky plot twists and have explosions in it. This becomes a problem however when you try to make a Documentary.

From the get go we have wanted to get our documentary or project or idea on Netflix in one form or another, however they started out in California and although they are branching out internationally and have said they are opeing an office in London, they still have thier audience to think about. Americans accounted for 60.55 million subscribers in 2018 where as the UK only accounted for 9.1 million (statistics from Ofcom and TechRadar). So when deciding on what content they want to commission they WILL be thinkinking about how well it will do in America even if the people pitching it are British. Netflix will sit down with their marketing team and discuss whether they think they can market it the way they know it will attract an audience who are used to American TV and adverts.

This is where their system of regulation comes in. Obviosly it would be great for them if every title that was pitched to them would be able to be streamed in every country and as many people as possible could give Netflix revenue by watching all these titles, however this is impossible due to several factors. One being limitations culturally and legally, for example China have banned Big Bang Theory because, according to the website cheatsheet.com, they don't want the depiction of "losers" being glorified, only successful hard working role models should get the spotlight. Not only this but Netflix in general is a touchy subject in China, technically you can't "get" Netflix in that country but you can watch it. There is however no leaniancy with the platform in countries such as North Korea, it is completely illegal to have or attempt to stream Netflix there and punishments for said activity can be quite brutal. Anyway with such limitation on content in some countries this can lead to people who live in that country paying a similar price as that of another country but in effect getting less for their money as less content is being aloud to be shown.

See below the difference in library size and types of content due to restrictions between UK/USA and the likes of Russia and Iran: