From Telenovelas to Netflix: Transnational, Transverse Television in Latin America

Joseph Straubhaar is the Amon G. Carter, Sr. Centennial Professor of Communication in the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin. He was previously Director of the Brazil Center in the Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies. He was co-author of Latin American Television Industries. His research focuses on global media, television in Latin America, and the digital divide in Texas and Latin America.Vanessa de Macedo Higgins Joyce is an Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University and a Research Fellow at the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. Her research lies in the intersection of transnational media, digital journalism, consensus building, and Latin America.Melissa Santillana is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on international media flows, border studies, activist movements, feminist activism, digital media, and digital inequality. Luiz Guilherme Duarte is an international media research executive with awards for the developments of pioneer television measurement services. He is also adjunct professor at University of Central Florida.

“Both From Telenovelas to Netflix and Latino TV provide a history and genealogy of their chosen subjects, albeit through completely different methodologies. Through these markedly different approaches, each book successfully tackles a wide range of material and achieves the goals set. While one text may be more accessible to a wider audience than the other, both books make an important contribution to the fields of Television Studies, Latino studies, and Latin American studies.” (Alexandra James Salichs, Critical Studies in Television, Vol. 18 (2), 2023)

• 1. Introduction.- 2. The Growth of Latin American Television.- 3. Why Latin American Audiences Stay Loyal to National Broadcast Television.- 4. The Persistence of the Popularity of US television.- 5. Changing Class Formations and Changing Television Viewing: The New Middle Class, Television and Pay Television in Eight Latin American Countries 2004–2020.- 6. Streaming Television, Netflix, and Transverse Transnationalism.- 7. Netflix, Distinction, and Cosmopolitanism Among Latin American Middle Class and Elite Audiences.- 8. Conclusion.