Documentary serialisation as an innovation strategy in Spanish streaming platforms: mapping and dominant trends (2016-2024)

Abstract

During the last decade, several audiovisual platforms have proliferated in Spain, altering the traditional television landscape by offering innovative original content and defying the dynamics of conventional production, distribution and reception. Although academic attention has focused more on analysing their fiction series, this article investigates the documentary series produced by the four platforms that have generated the most titles of this type of audiovisual work: Netflix, Movistar Plus+, Max y Prime Video. This research is based on the hypothesis that the serialisation of documentaries is a strategy for innovation in a saturated television market. In order to study the existing production, in the absence of an official database, a catalogue has been drawn up that maps this field evincing a total of 127 documentary series produced between March 2016 and June 2024. The analysis evidences a lack of reflection and consistency in the use of the concept of «documentary» or the idea of originality by some platforms, as well as incomplete information in the metadata they offer. The quantification of data shows that since 2020 the annual production of documentary series has increased considerably, consolidating itself as an attractive line of production for platforms and audiences. It is also detected that seriality usually occurs with few chapters, frequently between 2 and 4 chapters, and that series usually present recurring topics, such as sports or real crimes, through which some platforms, as Prime Video and Netflix or Max respectively, try to differentiate themselves from the rest. Finally, from a gender perspective, it is quantified how many female directors can be found in such series, obtaining low figures on the inclusion of female creators in this audiovisual field.