To what extent do television producers attempt to target national and global audiences box
through subject matter and distribution
distributed by Freemantle, a British production and distribution
company, subsidiary of RTL media, a global company which is
designed to target an international audience
• it is a co-production of AMC Networks, SundanceTV (US) and RTL
Television (German and American), positioning it to exploit the
national and global market
• AMC and RTL were able to develop the series in the context of new opportunities for distribution and exhibition – e.g. the Walter Presents platform in the UK, which is a subsidiary of C4, exploiting broadcast and digital opportunities
•
focuses on German – and European – history and politics
•
the cast of relative unknowns – even in the country of production were still used to promote the series through the focus on young,
visually appealing male and female leads
•
themes and setting are constructed to appeal to an international
audience through the familiar narrative tropes of an ‘innocent abroad’ and the “Romeo and Juliet” romance. The series is visually stylish using a familiar postmodern style which exploits the current popularity of retro styles in fashion and music
•
exploitation of social media; part of the Sundance TV marketing
strategy was the use of historical sliders, live tweeting of the
programme by the actress who played the lead character, playlists of
1980s music linked to Spotify and through Twitter account.