In this episode we turn the mic around. Dr. Robert Clapperton, Director of Audience Lab, takes a turn as host to chat with Dr. Irene Berkowitz about her book, which inspired this series of the Audience Lab podcast. Mediaucracy: Why Canada hasn’t made global TV hits and how it can is the story of the fiery collision between Canada’s national TV policy and the global, online era and has been called “an important roadmap to a much-needed policy update.”
 
Dr. Berkowitz shares her research on Canadian TV, which took her to Hollywood to interview top showrunners. They discuss her review of other approaches around the world, (the U.K., Israel, Denmark, Korea)  – and how the policies of these countries help their local content succeed on the global stage.

Berkowitz argues that while Canada is teeming with creative talent, the current policy framework does not incentivize globality (global reach and content popularity), and omits the three most important words in media audience, audience, audience.

As Bob observes, the book doesn’t just delve into the problem; it concludes with a solution, including a critical path and goal-driven, evidence-based policy strategies including POM to COM, PM to AM; and its centrepiece instrument, G-Score, which incentivizes and rewards globality.

Along the way, names are dropped, including Charles Falzon, Ivan Fecan, Noreen Halpern,  Eugene Levy, Reynolds Mastin, John Morayniss, David Shore, and Len St-Aubin.

“Mediaucracy with Dr. Irene Berkowitz,” a series from The Audience Lab Podcast, is by Audience Lab, a media audience research group at The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University (recently renamed). 

We tackle challenging questions in audience research, digital communication, and human-computer interaction. We’ve led groundbreaking and international collaborations with CBC, CMF, CMPA, Google, Playback, and more.  

If you want to learn more OR you have comments, questions, or guest requests for Mediaucracy, please email our host, Dr. Irene Berkowitz at iberkowi@ryerson.ca.

Access the transcription and relates articles and resources from this episode HERE

Credits:
Executive Producer and Host: Irene Berkowitz 
Podcast Producer, Distribution, and Promotions Design: Sam McNulty 
Series Cover Art and Logo Design: Sean Truong, David Jardine and Jessica Scott
Season Cover Art and Web Design: Nancy Ly
Audience Lab Director: Robert Clapperton
The Creative School Marketing: Rana Latif, Ashley Haraburda, Tania Ulrich
Dean of The Creative School: Charles Falzon

“Radical authenticity creates radical universality:” that’s the mantra behind the Israeli TV  industry’s success on the world stage.  

Despite language and subtitle barriers, millions have embraced foreign language series like Fauda, Lupin, Money Heist and Squid Game. In an era when the subtitle barrier has been broken, all these series are examples of local content becoming global hits.  

This episode we meet Ronit Weiss, the Israeli co-creator of one of Netflix’s latest foreign language hits, The Girl from Oslo, a co-production between Norway and Israel, that zoomed to the streamer’s top ten lists in 36 countries when it debuted in April of 2021. We chat about the development of this series and find out more about how Israel does TV.

“Mediaucracy with Dr. Irene Berkowitz” is a series from The Audience Lab Podcast. Audience Lab is a media audience research group at The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University (recently renamed). 

We tackle challenging questions in audience research, digital communication, and human-computer interaction. We’ve led groundbreaking and international collaborations with CBC, CMF, CMPA, Google, Playback, and more.  

If you want to learn more OR you have comments, questions, or guest requests for Mediaucracy, please email our host, Dr. Irene Berkowitz at iberkowi@ryerson.ca.

Access the transcription and relates articles and resources from this episode HERE

When the pandemic canceled his stage career and his legacy broadcast show, our Guest pivoted to survive, and got 3 MILLION followers on TikTok by creating joy.

We chat with the HILARIOUS, Darcy Michael (@thedarcymichael), Canadian comedian, Tik Tok sensation, and new media entrepreneur. We learn how, in just fifteen months,  Tik Tok’s free, instant global export model allowed him to widen his national audience to a global audience of millions, and how working hard at being funny generated money: brand deals, sponsorships, and even increased revenues to his previous legacy work. We’ll also learn how TikTok’s audience-based model is threatened by Canada’s newly proposed legislation, Bill C-11, The Online Streaming Act, and why Darcy decided to speak out to explain, to the Canadian government, the importance of Canada’s new media economy and its hard-working entrepreneurs.

Access the transcription and relates articles and resources from this episode HERE

Mediaucracy, with Irene Berkowitz, PhD, is a limited series in the Audience Lab podcast hub. Audience Lab is a media audience research group at The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University (recently renamed).

We tackle challenging questions in audience research, digital communication, and human-computer interaction. We’ve led groundbreaking and international collaborations with CBC, CMF, CMPA, Google, Playback, and more. 

If you want to learn more OR you have comments, questions, or guest requests for Mediaucracy, please email our host, Dr. Irene Berkowitz at iberkowi@ryerson.ca.

Credits:
Executive Producer and Host: Irene Berkowitz
Podcast Producer, Distribution, and Promotions Design: Sam McNulty
Series Cover Art and Web Designer: Nancy Ly
Audience Lab Director: Robert Clapperton
The Creative School Marketing: Rana Latif, Ashley Haraburda, Tania Ulrich
Dean of The Creative School: Charles Falzon

Kids songs…They’re catchy, soothing, great for putting kids to sleep, but what you might not think about is they’re also HIT CONTENT. When global hits are built on YouTube, the creative and business dynamics are fascinating.

We chat with Morghan Fortier, CEO and co-founder of Skyship Entertainment, the company behind Canada’s #1 YouTube channel, Super Simple Songs. We hear about their journey toward 35 billion global views, how they stay #1, and why Morghan decided to advocate for hundreds of thousands of other Canadian creators by appearing in The House of Commons to speak up about  the country’s newly proposed media legislation, Bill C-11, The Online Streaming Act, which could unravel the work of digital entrepreneurs like her.

“Mediaucracy with Dr. Irene Berkowitz” is by Audience Lab, a media audience research group at The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University (recently renamed).

We tackle challenging questions in audience research, digital communication, and human-computer interaction. We’ve led groundbreaking and international collaborations with CBC, CMF, CMPA, Google, Playback, and more. 

If you want to learn more OR you have comments, questions, or guest requests for Mediaucracy, please email our host, Dr. Irene Berkowitz at iberkowi@ryerson.ca.

Access the transcription and relates articles and resources from this episode HERE: https://www.torontomu.ca/audience-lab/podcasts/

Credits:
Executive Producer and Host: Irene Berkowitz 
Podcast Producer: Sam McNulty
Podcast distribution and promotions design: Sam McNulty 
Series Cover Art and web design: Nancy Ly
Audience Lab Director: Robert Clapperton
The Creative School Marketing: Rana Latif, Ashley Haraburda, Tania Ulrich
Dean of The Creative School: Charles Falzon