The Regional Success of Italian TV Series: Generalist TV Titles in the Years 2016-2018

Abstract

As also TV commissioners say, locations are taking on a growing importance in Italian TV series. Indeed, academic research has often focused on the relevance that locations have for territorial marketing and tourism market – that is, on the effect that the representation of a given territory might have on an audience of outsiders, possibly induced to visit places different from where they live. This article, instead, aims at measuring and discussing the success that 90 seasons of Italian free-to-air TV series from the last three years achieved precisely in the regions where they were shot or set – that is, on an audience of insiders. The match between locations and local audiences, besides showing the heterogeneity of Italian TV public, demonstrates that the latter can be designed, by designing content with specific (geographical) features.