The Social Construction of Targeted Television Advertising: The Importance of ‘Social Arrangements’ in the Development of Targeted Television Advertising in Flanders

This paper focuses on the social construction of targeted
TV advertising. In 2016, experiments with targeted TV
commercials started in Flanders (Belgium). We apply a
Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) approach to
understand how targeted television advertising is being
developed. We underline the importance of social
arrangements in the development of this particular
technology. Social arrangements can be defined as the
relations between relevant soci
al groups that work together
to stabilize a technology. The development of targeted TV
advertising can be seen as a moment of ‘interpretive
flexibility’, implying that different relevant social groups
can give a different meaning to targeted advertising as a
technological artifact. To st
eer the development of the
technology towards the most beneficial solution to their
agenda, different social groups
use different strategies. In
our paper, we argue that in the case of targeted TV
advertising, the audience should be approached as a
relevant social group. Our empirical research thus
incorporates both television industry and user perspectives
on the development of targeted TV advertising in Flanders
between 2012 and 2017. Based on expert interviews with
industry representatives and focus group interviews with
end-users, we provide an analysi
s of the different strategies,
opportunities and challenges that different stakeholders
(TV-industry, viewers and policy actors) are faced with. To
conclude, we also formulate specific recommendations for a
successful implementation of targeted TV advertising in
Flanders.

Trefwoorden:Commercial television, Interpretive flexibility, Social arrangements, Targeted television advertising, Television audience

Auteurs:Regional

Toegankelijkheid:Closed