The Context of Viewership and the Production of Television Serial Drama Fiction in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

The study, ‘the context of viewership and the production of television serial drama fiction in Nairobi, Kenya’, explores how audience watch and interrelate with the producers and the TV station executives in the consumption of the serial drama fiction programming. There has been little discourse and interrogation on how the viewers engage and draw meaning from the serials. The objectives scrutinises these issues as follows: To determine the context of viewership of television serial drama fiction among audience in Nairobi, Kenya. It further seeks to gain an understanding on the lack of entertainment value of domestic TV serial drama fictions and the causes of their dissatisfaction in contrast to foreign productions. The study also explores the extent to which the producers understand the entertainment needs of their audience in a serial drama production. Finally, the study determines how the TV station executives contextualise their audiences’ entertainment needs and fulfil the producers’ expectations in the genre. The research is anchored on uses and gratification, active audience and cultural proximity theories. The study employs a mixed-method design approach by using survey questionnaires and applying simple random, purposive and systematic sampling techniques. The study is further organised at three levels. In the first, 422 interview guide questionnaires were administered to respondents in three randomly selected constituencies of Nairobi followed by nine FGDs. The constituencies were Embakasi West, Makadara and Kibra. Sixteen in-depth interviews were convened with TV drama producers and station executives. Survey questionnaires (415) were finally analyzed by SPSS and triangulated together with the qualitative findings. The results indicate that there is an interaction between viewership and the audience life context. The domestic audience finds more entertainment content in the foreign TV serial drama fictions than in the local productions. The audience prefers them because of their superior production treatment; from the appropriate choice of a storyline, creative dialogue development and depth of actors. Overall, they perceive them as more ‘life-like’, genuine and believable. The local producers have failed to interpret these audience nuances for leveraging on their productions. Besides, there is an emerging digital divide among low-income viewers with the introduction of digital broadcasting. There is also mistrust and disconnect among the producers and the station executives; a critical link to sustainable good domestic productions. The study recommends workshops on retraining/ advancing of skills in scripting for the serial drama producers, setting up of TV/Film acting schools, streamlining the working relationship between the station executives and the producers and revamping the 60% local content policy to capture aspects on improvement of quality. Finally, there is also a need to set up a TV/Film research centre.