The Web Series Experiment

Offering a comprehensive history and analysis of web series as an experimental media form, this book traces this emergence from the late 1990s in the United States to their global influence across platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok.

Produced independently and outside traditional media channels, web series have transformed screen content by enabling creators to explore unconventional ideas, access new audiences directly, and carve pathways into the industry. This book explores how this medium has reshaped screen production practices and empowered diverse voices in the industry. Key features include the utilisation of the “total value” framework in assessing the cultural value of the format and comparative analyses of international policy responses to web series in Australia and Canada. This book investigates the diversity of creators and content, the varied ways in which web series engage with audiences, the unique production practices employed by creators, and the role of web festivals in this evolving landscape. Concluding with interviews from Australian web series creators, it suggests a re-evaluation of the web series format, highlighting its significant impact on individual careers and community building in screen industries.

This book is designed for an academic audience, including students, educators, and researchers in media, film, and screen production, as well as screen industry professionals and policy-makers interested in innovative content formats. Those researching online engagement, audience studies, and digital media will find valuable insights, as will educators in media and screen studies. By critically examining the development and contributions of web series, this book provides essential perspectives on their growing significance in the global media landscape.

Steinar Ellingsen is the coordinator of the Bachelor of Journalism and Broadcast Media at Edith Cowan University. He is a chief investigator on the ARC Linkage project, Valuing Web Series: Economic, Industrial, Cultural and Social Value (LP180100626). Dr Ellingsen is an internationally recognised expert on web series whose practice-based PhD thesis included the creation of a multi-award-winning web series, The Inland Sea: An Australian Odyssey. He is a co-founder and former Director of Melbourne WebFest and has given keynotes and seminars on web series around the globe. Dr Ellingsen has previously held positions as Senior Lecturer at the University of Wollongong, and La Trobe University – where he also served as Head of Department of Communication and Media from 2016 - 2018.

Mark David Ryan is a Professor in Screen and Media Studies and a Chief Investigator for the Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC), Queensland University of Technology, Australia. He is the Academic Lead for Research and Research Training for the School of Creative Arts, Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice, QUT. He has written extensively about screen industries, Australian film and television, and genre cinema. Mark regularly advises government screen agencies on policy formulation shaping both international and domestic film and television production. Between 2020 and 2023, he has been commissioned by Screen Queensland, the Gold Coast City Council and the Sunshine Coast Council to lead studies to inform policies supporting the development of the film and television industry. Ryan has published numerous refereed journal articles and scholarly essays and is a co-editor of the books Australian Genre Film (2021), Australian Screen in the 2000s(2017) and the Directory of World Cinema: Australia and New Zealand (2015). He was the President of the Screen Studies Association of Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand (SSAAANZ) between 2015 and 2018.

Sue Turnbull is Honorary Professor of Communication and Media at the University of Wollongong. Her publications include Media Audiences (Palgrave Macmillan 2020), Media and Communications in Australia with co-editor Bridget Griffen-Foley (Routledge 2024) and Migrants, Television and Australian Stories (Routledge 2025) co-written with Kate Darian Smith, Sukhmani Khorana and Kyle Harvey. Sue has been involved in eight Australian Research Council projects and was Chief Investigator on the ARC Linkage project, Valuing Web Series (LP180100626).