Understanding the Audience Makes for Successful Global Content

How local awareness can keep your content from being censored

Hardly a week goes by when a film or TV title isn't criticized for offending someone somewhere. This week alone, two lead news stories focused on titles some audiences will find offensive. Each example provides insight into title content judged and interpreted differently by the show's producers, regulators, and audiences.

"The White Lotus"

The first is HBO's series "The White Lotus." Showrunner Mike White revealed that the fifth episode of this season includes a "gay sex scene" between one of the lead characters, millionaire "Quentin" and "Jack"‚Ä¶his "nephew." Without considering the plot or answering the question of whether Quentin and Jack are related (White told Variety, "Well, you'll have to see"), and the fact the terms "uncle" and "nephew" are coded terms sex workers use when referring to clients is beside the point. It's the gay and implied incestuous relationship, as well as the visuals, that are the point.

As we've said many times , LGBTQIA+ content is among the most difficult to get past censors as it is, much less when it depicts same-sex scenes between relatives.

Portraying people in the act, especially relatives, creates a cultural problem in many more markets than those who frown on gay relationships. According to IMDb Pro, "The White Lotus" is available in 39 countries , 17 of which are known to censor LGBTQIA+ content (the link is behind a paywall). It's fair to say producers will be required to make edits or outright cuts if they want that episode to air in all 39. The extent of changes by regulators is yet unknown.

"The Kashmir Files"

This week's other controversy is the jury reaction to the Hindi film, "The Kashmir Files," included in this year's International Film Festival of India. Released in March, the film tells the story of the Kashmiri Hindus who fled persecution from the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley in the early 1990s. It "reportedly stirred up anti-Muslim sentiments , with audiences erupting in hate speeches and calling for the slaughter of Muslims and a boycott of Muslim businesses after seeing the film."

Israeli Director and Festival Juror Nadav Lapid said, via Deadline , "We were all of us disturbed and shocked by‚Ä¶ "The Kashmir Files," [it] felt to us like a propaganda, vulgar movie inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of such a prestigious film festival." Although banned in Singapore and the UAE, the film was " praised " by the Hindu community and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government provided tax credits and promotional resources for the film.

The saying, "Where you stand depends on where you sit," explains which side of the conflict the audience identifies with and how the public perceives those with an opposing view.

From the Kashmiri Hindu perspective, the story relates the impact of family members killed for religious and ethnic reasons resulting in their departure from a region where their families had established roots. From the Muslim perspective, a film depicting them as the oppressor and murderers wrongly implicates their faith and its adherents instead of those who committed the crimes for political and personal reasons.

Considering both "The White Lotus" and "The Kashmir Files," the collision of perspectives dramatically highlights the subjective emotion films cause and the potentially intense regulatory or public response. Content creators who understand their audiences will maintain story integrity while respecting cultural sensibilities. Those who don't understand them risk sanctions for attempting to release content into a market where it is culturally inappropriate or illegal.

Suppose you're looking to release controversial titles anywhere in the world. In that case, there is no better tool for protecting your IP, company, or reputation than Spherex ratings™ and Spherex greenlight™ . Spherex can provide precise scene and country-specific insights that help facilitate better-informed and more rational content change decisions that protect the story, the brand, and the audience.

Contact Spherex today to schedule a demonstration and see the benefits for yourself!

Related Insights

Spherex Classification Tool Now Approved for Home Entertainment Content in Australia

Spherex

Regulation

Classification

The Albanese Government has updated the Spherex Classification Tool approval to include ratings for theatrical releases, home entertainment, and streaming content in Australia. Spherex was previously approved to classify online films.

The update underscores the Australian Classification Board’s confidence in Spherex as a tool to help Australian viewers make informed choices about the content they consume. This means Australians can now access a range of new films sooner than they might across all formats and windows.

Spherex has a longstanding relationship with the Australian Classification Board. Since 2020, Spherex has collaborated closely with the Australian Government to ensure its technology reliably generates classification decisions that meet Australian standards and viewers' expectations.

As the world’s only commercial provider of local age ratings, Spherex has successfully produced classification decisions for high volumes of online content in over 100 countries. Since 2018, Spherex has issued over one million age ratings for digital content, including films, TV shows, and trailers, distributed by its clients worldwide.

Spherex customers, including Umbrella Entertainment, Madman Entertainment, and Sugoi Co., rely on its AI-based platform to obtain local age ratings in Australia and significantly improve efficiency, cost reduction, and market reach.

Discover how Spherex's cutting-edge AI-based platform can streamline your content classification process and enhance your market reach while reducing costs.

Visit spherex.com today and see how we can support your content distribution needs.

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nScreenNoise - Interview Spherex: Avoiding the cultural dead zone

Spherex

Culture

One of the conundrums of streaming is that although a service can deliver content globally, it is not guaranteed to be acceptable in a particular local market. Netflix found this out when it announced global availability in 2016 at CES and was quickly banned in markets like Indonesia, where some of the content was deemed too violent or sexual. In 2016, without boots on the ground in a local market, it wasn’t easy to assess whether a show or movie would be culturally acceptable.

Today, global media companies are acutely aware of the importance of their content’s cultural fit. Moreover, they have a company like Spherex to help them prepare their content to ensure it fits with any country of interest. I interviewed Teresa Phillips, the Co-Founder and CEO of Spherex, at the recent OTT.X Summit in Los Angeles. She explained how the company is leveraging AI and its massive cultural profiling database to help companies prepare content for target markets. She also explained how, in the near future, AI would aid the company in measuring a movie or show’s cultural distance from a regional market and help it avoid falling into the failure zone between cultural fit and novelty interest.

Listen to the full interview here.

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Spherex Featured in the DPP's IBC 2024: Demand versus Supply Report

Spherex

Industry

Spherex was featured in the DPP’s IBC 2024: Demand versus Supply Report, a comprehensive look at how the M&E industry is meeting key customer demands. The report focuses on the topics of empowering creators, understanding audiences, engaging users, and innovating the newsroom. It also highlights many of the technical innovations seen at the recent IBC Show.

An article by Spherex’s CEO Teresa Phillips titled "Navigating Cultural Resonance in Global Media: The Art and Science of Culture Mixing" was featured in the report, exploring how Spherex is pioneering the future of culturally informed content.

Teresa shares how cultural mixing has become a critical strategy for creating content that appeals to diverse audiences in today's global media landscape. This phenomenon involves blending elements from different cultures to craft films and television shows that resonate globally while adhering to local regulations.

However, the process of culture mixing is fraught with risks. Superficial or stereotypical representations can lead to accusations of cultural appropriation or insensitivity, alienating audiences and damaging a company's reputation. For example, imposing Western concepts on Eastern content without proper context can feel inauthentic and jarring to local viewers. These missteps highlight the need for a nuanced understanding of cultural elements to ensure that content is respectful and engaging.

To address these challenges, M&E companies are increasingly turning to data-driven solutions. Platforms like SpherexAI utilize artificial intelligence to analyze visual, audio, and textual elements, providing insights into how well content aligns with cultural and regulatory standards across over 200 countries and territories. This approach helps media companies understand the "cultural distance" between a title's origin and its target market, enabling them to make informed decisions about global distribution.

By leveraging these advanced tools, M&E companies can go beyond traditional content localization. They can create media that actively engages and resonates with diverse audiences. As the industry continues to evolve, those companies that embrace culturally informed, data-driven approaches will be better positioned to succeed, fostering cross-cultural understanding and trust while delivering globally appealing content.

Download the report here.

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