Television is constantly testing its definitional boundaries. What was formerly defined by ways of transmission and screen technology, is more and more in dissolution in today’s mediated landscape. Young people, especially, are turning away from traditional broadcast television – and turning towards other screens and formats. This development is forcing established structures to react and adapt to this new viewing culture. Novel formats, such as the Norwegian teen drama series ‘SKAM’ or the Spanish talent show ‘Operación Trriunfo/Star Academy’, proved to be extremely successful in overcoming the traditional boundaries of the medium, amongst others by including multi-platform technology and storytelling via social networks.

How can we understand television today as a ‘young’ medium and audiovisual culture? As a connected screen culture, not constrained anymore by a singular screen and fixed location in households, the medium continues to play a key role in people’s everyday lived realities. How is television understood by young audiences as part of their wider screen culture? A clear contradiction seems to be a part of this trend, with older viewers leading traditional television audiences, and younger populations increasingly connected through other audiovisual devices and contents.

And how should scholars of audiovisual culture try and make sense of television production and use by/for these younger audiences? The conference ‘The Youthification of Television and Screen Culture’ therefore also provides a platform to reflect on ‘young’, contemporary, and intersectional approaches to the study of television and connected audiovisual media on multiple platforms and screens. The conference has as its key goal to overcome ‘narrow’ definitions of the medium television, inviting reflections from wider and intersectional perspectives studying the medium’s production, reception and/or cross-platform programming in different European contexts.

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