Informal control impacts on the marketing mix in digital short-form series

Abstract

Scripted short-form series contribute to a growing aspect of the creative and cultural industries in Canada. As digitalization has changed the industry, a business-to-business market has developed between creators and buyers. Creators consistently behave as marketers as they must create their product, secure a distribution platform, negotiate a price, and promote their series. Given this, creators must work with many actors to successfully bring a series to the market. Informal controls reflect the unwritten rules for success and cooperation, which are currently unknown in the creative and cultural industries, and rarely explored in marketing. Grounded in resource dependence theory, this study examines how informal controls shape creators' access to resources and marketing decisions in the Canadian short-form series market. The analysis draws on 48 in-depth interviews with Canadian creative producers. Findings show that informal controls are manifested through social networks, industry norms, cultural expectations, and shared beliefs. These informal controls have unequal and various effects on the marketing mix. This study contributes to creative-and-cultural industries and business-to-business literature by explicating the often-privileged quiet rules of conduct, and specifying the rewards and punishments on the marketing mix.