Television content traveling across borders is not a new phenomenon. However, recent transformations in the television landscape are impacting the dynamics of transnational media flows. With the rise of global streaming services, content from different origins is more easily accessible worldwide. At the same time, linear television is far from dead, continuously offering new domestic and imported content in different national contexts. Furthermore, social media and fan communities expand accessibility beyond what is commercially on offer and ensure long-term engagement with content. In this increasingly complex ecosystem, audiences can choose between Nordic Noir from Scandinavia, K-dramas from South Korea, dizi from Turkey, and much more.
In this research, Gabrielle Ferreira examines the continuities and shifts in how television content travels across borders using the expansion of Turkish dramas (dizi) in Spain as a case study. Over the past two decades, Turkey’s television industry has emerged as a key player in the global market, and Turkish dramas have been present on Spanish television since 2018. Considering this seemingly atypical route, this work investigates the factors beyond cultural proximity that shape how Spanish audiences engage with Turkish dramas. Ultimately, this dissertation sheds light on the reconfigurations of transnational media flows in the contemporary television landscape, emphasizing the growing relevance of television content from the Global South and smaller producing countries in the Global North.
Gabrielle Ferreira successfully defended her thesis on 17 April 2026.
Trial lecture
Designated topic: Critically reflect on if and how the transnational cultural exchanges you have studied shape public perceptions, cultural imaginaries, and gender norms in contemporary Europe, and what type(s) of stakeholders could benefit from your project's insights, why and how.
Evaluation committee
- Assistant Professor Deborah Castro, University of Groningen (first opponent)
- Senior Researcher Dr. Catalina Iordache, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (second opponent)
- Professor Timotheus Vermeulen, University of Oslo (committee administrator)
Chair of the defence
- Professor Rune Karlsen, University of Oslo
Supervisors
- Professor Marika Lüders, University of Oslo
- Professor Vilde Schanke Sundet, OsloMet.