Socio-Cultural Peculiarities of the Audience of Online Drama in Bahrain

Authors

  • Ahmad Mohammed Nahar Al Tawalbeh Gulf University https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9734-5071
  • Amjad Omar Ali Safori Zarqa University
  • Alia Ali Idris Mahmoud Zarqa University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9309-527X
  • Ashraf Faleh Yousef Al-Zoubi Applied Science Private University
  • Tahsin Mohammad Anis Hasan Sharadgah Zarqa University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu13.2023.411

Abstract

Bahrain’s population is diversified, consisting of both Bahrainis and expats from many nations. Online dramas often reflect this diversity in terms of the languages used and the portrayal of cultural identities. Productions may employ a mix of Arabic and English, or they may incorporate characters from various ethnic origins. Grounded in uses and gratifications theory this research examines online dramas on web television platforms in Bahrain — one of the most ecomomically developed country of the Middle East and the Arab Gulf region with a high index of digital media consumers. Therefore, this study aims to explore social and cultural peculiarities of usage of online dramas in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Moreover, the research attempts to examine motivations of different social groups of watching online dramas on web television platforms. The paper tends to investigate gratifications achieved from watching online dramas on Netflix. For this goal Netflix platform has been chosen as a pattern of the most popular web television platforms in the above metioned region. To achieve these objectives, a cross-sectional online questionnaire was used with self-selection, and convenience non-probability sampling techniques. A total number of 306 self-selected respondents from Bahrain was investigated. The overall results showed that within the Banrainean society, which prefers to watch online dramas via the precised web television platforms, there is no difference between ritulaized and instrumental motivitations, as well as there is no a significant difference between process and content gratifications.

Keywords:

Kingdom of Bahrain, web television platforms, online dramas, VOD

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
 

References

Netflix (Bahrain) SVOD and Streaming Service subscribers. Dataxis, 2023, June 12. Available at: https://dataxis.com/product/market-report/television-bahrain/ (accessed: 04.02.2024).

Khalifa H. K. H. Drama’s Violent Scenes and Their Social Impact on Egyptian Youth. International Journal of Media and Mass Communication (IJMMC), 2022, no. 4 (1), pp. 103–111.

Duan S., Chen X. Why college students watch streaming drama at Higher playback speed:the uses and gratifications perspective. 2019 International Joint Conference on Information, Media and Engineering (IJCIME). 2019. https://doi.org/10.1109/ijcime49369.2019.00087

Amaran M. A., Wen L. M. Factors of watching Korean drama among youth in Kuching city, Malaysia. International Journal of Arts and Commerce, 2018, no. 7 (7), pp. 33–48.

Khalifa H. K. H. The Role of Satellite Channels and Internet in Shaping Egyptian Public Opinions’ Attitudes Toward the Political and Legislative Institutions. PhD thesis. Cairo, Faculty of Mass Communication, Cairo University, 2018. 420 p. (In Arabic)

Rathnayake C., Winter J. S. Carrying forward the uses and grats 2.0 agenda: An affordance-driven measure of social media uses and Gratifications. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 2018, no. 62 (3), pp. 371–389. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2018.1451861

Katz E., Haas, H., Gurevitch M. On the use of the mass media for important things. American sociological review, 1973, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 164–181.

Rubin A. The uses-and-gratifications perspective of media effects. In: J. Bryant, D. Zillmann (eds). Media effects: Advances in theory and research. 2nd ed. Hillsdale, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2002, pp. 525–548.

Menon D. Purchase and continuation intentions of over-the-top (OTT) video streaming platform subscriptions: A uses and gratification theory perspective. Telematics and Informatics Reports, 2022, no. 5, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teler.2022.100006

Limayem M., Cheung C. M. Predicting the continued use of Internet-based learning technologies: the role of habit. Behaviour & Information Technology, 2011, no. 30 (1), pp. 91–99.

Rubin A. M. Television uses and gratifications: The interactions of viewing patterns and motivations. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 1983, no. 27 (1), pp. 37–51.

Palmgreen P., Rayburn J. D. Uses and gratifications and exposure to public television: A discrepancy approach. Communication Research, 1979, no. 6 (2), pp. 155–179.

Pettersson T. The audiences’ uses and gratifications of TV worship services. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1986, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 391–409.

Mairaru S., Tyagi S., Azeez C., Sharma D. C. Understanding the print, web, television media habits and preferences of Indians: A uses and gratification perspective. Journal of Content, Community and Communication, 2019 no. 9 (1), pp. 75–80.

Kaye B. K. Uses and gratifications of the World Wide Web: From couch potato to Web potato. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 1998, no. 6 (1), pp. 21–40.

Wanjiru K. K. L. A Study on the Uses and Gratification of Facebook among the Youth in Kenya. Dr. Sci. thesis. Nairobi, University of Nairobi, 2010. [ix], 100 p. Available at: http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11295/3829/Kimani_A%20Study%20On%20The%20Uses%20And%20Gratification%20Of%20Facebook%20Among%20The%20Youth%20In%20Kenya.pdf?sequence=1 (accessed: 04.02.2024).

Leung L., Wei R. More Than Just Talk On The Move: Uses And Gratifications Of The Cellular Phone. Journalism And Mass Communication Quarterly, 2000, no. 77 (2), pp. 308–320.

Grellhesl M., Narissra M. Using the Uses and Gratifications Theory to Understand Gratifications Sought through Text Messaging Practices of Male and Female Undergraduate Students. Computers in Human Behavior, 2012, no. 28 (6) pp. 2175–2181.

Chua A. Y. K., Dion H. G., Chei S. L. Mobile Content Contribution and Retrieval: An Exploratory Study Using the Uses and Gratifications Paradigm. Information Processing & Management, 2012, no. 48 (1), pp. 13–22.

Whiting A., Williams D. Why people use social media: a uses and gratifications approach. Qualitative market research: an international journal, 2013, no. 16 (4), pp. 362–369.

Dolan R., Conduit J., Fahy J., Goodman S. Social media engagement behaviour: A uses and gratifications perspective. Journal of strategic marketing, 2016, no. 24 (3–4), pp. 261–277.

Quan-Haase A., Young A. L. Uses and gratifications of social media: A comparison of Facebook and instant messaging. Bulletin of science, technology & society, 2010, no. 30 (5), pp. 350–361.

Ruggiero T. E. Uses and Gratifications Theory in the 21st Century. Mass Communication & Society, 2000, no. 3 (1), pp. 3–37.

Rigby J. M., Brumby D. P., Cox A. L., Gould S. J. Watching movies on Netflix. Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services Adjunct. 2016, pp. 714–721. https://doi.org/10.1145/2957265.2961843

Creswell J. W., Poth C. N. Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design: Choosing among Five approaches (4th ed.). Singapore; Washington DC; Melbourne, SAGE Publication Inc., 2018. 488 p.

Sundar S. S., Limperos A. M. Uses and Grats 2.0: New gratifications for new media. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 2013, no. 57 (4), pp. 504–525. https://doi. org/10.1080/08838151.2013.845827

Bahrain’s National portal. About Bahrain: facts & figures. 2021, September 8. Available at: https://www.bahrain.bh/wps/portal (accessed: 25.01.2023).

Khalifa H. K. H. A Conceptual Review on Heuristic Systematic Model in Mass Communication Studies. International Journal of Media and Mass Communication (IJMMC), 2022, no. 4 (2), pp. 164–175.

Khalifa H. K. H. Media Dependency during COVID-19 Pandemic and Trust in Government: The Case of Bahrain. International Journal of Management, 2020, no. 11 (11), pp. 329–336. Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3747052 (accessed: 04.02.2024).

Downloads

Published

2024-03-28

How to Cite

Al Tawalbeh, A. M. N., Safori, A. O. A., Mahmoud, A. A. I., Al-Zoubi, A. F. Y., & Sharadgah, T. M. A. H. (2024). Socio-Cultural Peculiarities of the Audience of Online Drama in Bahrain. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies, 15(4), 766–778. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu13.2023.411

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 4 (2023): Вестник СПбГУ. Востоковедение и африканистика

Section

Geocultural spaces and codes of the cultures of Asia and Africa

License

Articles of "Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.