Serial media format in the digital media industry: definition, basic characteristics, and typology

Section: Discussion

The review article introduces the concept of “serial media format” into the academic field of “Media Communications and Journalism.” The authors outline the theoretical foundations and prerequisites for the expansion of serial media formats in the platform society across all types of communication products (adaptability to content planning algorithms, hyper-personalization, time budgeting and micro-planning of attention, reduced choice fatigue, social synchronization, content monetization, the creation of transmedia worlds, the formation of attachments, psychological defense, and niche microseriality). Based on a theoretical review of academic publications by Russian and international media researchers of the last decade, the authors develop a definition of the serial media format and provide its basic characteristics (iteration/variation, openness/ incompleteness, segmentation, paratextuality, implicit contractual relationships). Based on an analysis of contemporary media content, the article proposes a typology of modern serial media formats and outlines prospects for their further research in the Russian media space.

DOI: 10.55959/msu.vestnik.journ.3.2026.7090

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