Largely Unknown yet Highly Regarded: the Perception of Playz (RTVE) by Young Audiences
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62008/ixc/16/01DesconKeywords:
Young Audiences, Audiovisual Platforms, RTVE, Playz, Public Broadcasting ServiceAbstract
This article analyses the perception of young audiences regarding Playz, an online platform for audiovisual content from Spanish public television station RTVE, which directs its attention to the youth audience. The aim is to identify the extent of familiarity with this platform among its target audience, their level of use, and the opinions they hold regarding the quality, innovation, and diversity of its content. For this purpose, the authors conducted a survey and several focus groups, revealing scarce knowledge and use of Playz, which contrasts with the positive opinions stated regarding its content after viewing. One of the main findings is that traditional television operators struggle to reach young audiences, in spite of offering products specifically tailored to the consumption patterns of this age group, an example of which is Playz, and despite the fact that Spanish youth generally give a positive rating to the content offered on its programming schedule. Finally, regarding the study of audiovisual viewing and the public media, this work puts the spotlight on the viewer, which is uncommon in academic research in this area.
Metrics
References
AZURMENDI, A. (2018). Reconectar con la audiencia joven. Narrativa transmedia para la transformación de la televisión de servicio público en España, Fran-cia, Alemania y Reino Unido. Revista Latina De Comunicación Social, (73), 927–944. https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2018-1289
BARDOEL, J. L. & LOWE, G. F. (2007). From public service broadcasting to public service media: The core challenge (pp. 7-26). Göteborg: Nordicom.
BARR, K. (2025). ‘Are you being served?’Public service media: audience concep-tions of value in UK critical media infrastructure. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2025.2478230
BONINI, T. & PAIS, I. (2017). Hacking public service media funding: A scenario for rethinking the license fee as a form of civic crowdfunding. International journal on media management, 19(2), 123-143. https://doi.org/10.1080/14241277.2017.1298109
BRUUN, H., JOHNSON, C., LASSEN, J. M., NUCCI, A., RAATS, T. & ŚWITKOWSKI, F. (2025a). Publishing public service media on demand: A comparative study of public service media companies’ editorial practices on their VoD services in the age of platformization. Journal of Digital Media & Policy. https://doi.org/10.1386/jdmp_00167_1
BRUUN, H., LASSEN, J. M. M. & JOHNSON, C. (2025b). Streaming Public Service Televi-sion in the Age of Platforms: Lessons from a comparative analysis of VoD pub-lishing and personalisation in seven markets. https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/220720/
CAÑEDO, A., RODRÍGUEZ-CASTRO, M. & LÓPEZ-CEPEDA, A. M. (2022). Distilling the value of public service media: Towards a tenable conceptualisation in the European framework. European Journal of Communication, 37(6), 586-605. https://doi.org/10.1177/02673231221090777
CASADO, M. Á., GUIMERÀ, J. À., BONET, M. & LLAVADOR, J. P. (2023). Adapt or die? How traditional Spanish TV broadcasters deal with the youth target in the new audio-visual ecosystem. Critical Studies in Television, 18(3), 256-273. https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020221076983
DOÑATE-VENTURA, J., GALÁN-CUBILLO, E., & MARZAL-FELICI, J. (2025). All you can view: Análisis de la transformación del consumo audiovisual a través de Netflix. ZER. Revista de Estudios de Comunicación, 30(58), 129-140. https://doi.org/10.1387/zer.27286
DONDERS, K. (2021) Public Service Media in Europe. Law, Theory and Practice. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
DONDERS, K. & VAN DEN BULCK, H. (2016). Decline and fall of public service media values in the international content acquisition market: An analysis of small public broadcasters acquiring BBC Worldwide content. European journal of communication, 31(3), 299-316. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323116635833
DOYLE, G. (2024). Digital transformation and the challenge for Ireland’s public service media. Irish Journal of Arts Management and Cultural Policy, 10(2), 8-21. https://www.culturalpolicy.ie/index.php/ijamcp/article/view/2758
DRAGOMIR, M. & TÚÑEZ LÓPEZ, M. (2024). How public service media are changing in the platform era: A comparative study across four European countries. European Journal of Communication, 39(6), 608-624. https://doi.org/10.1177/02673231241290062
EBU (2014). PSM Values Review: The Tool. https://www.ebu.ch/files/live/sites/ebu/files/Publications/EBU-PSM-Values-Review-Tool.pdf
EGUZKITZA-MESTRAITUA, G., GUIMERÀ, J. À. & CASADO, M. Á. (2023a). Are there any young people out there? Spanish public broadcaster in search of new audi-ences. Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies, 15(1), 123-142. https://doi.org/10.1386/cjcs_00081_1
EGUZKITZA-MESTRAITUA, G., CASADO-DEL-RÍO, M. Á. & GUIMERÁ-I-ORTS, J. À. (2023b). RTVE’s transmedia strategy aimed at young audiences: the case of Playz (2017-2020). Communication & Society, 36(3), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.36.3.1-17
EGUZKITZA-MESTRAITUA, G., CASADO-DEL-RÍO, M. Á., & GUIMERÁ-I-ORTS, J. À. (2023c). Percepción del público joven sobre las plataformas online de la televisión pública española: RTVE Play y Playz. Revista Latina De Comunicación Social, 81, 40–62. https://doi.org/10.4185/rlcs-2023-1970
FIEIRAS CEIDE, C., TÚÑEZ LÓPEZ, M. y PEDRO SOUSA, J. (2023). Radiografía de inno-vación de los medios públicos de escala nacional de la península Ibérica: vi-sión estratégica, tecnológica, y de captación de audiencias jóvenes en RTVE y RTP. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 81, 353-374. https://www.doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2023-1957
GARCÍA GUARDIA, M. L., CLEMENTE MEDIAVILLA, J. y CALVO TRIVIÑO, L. M. (2021). La ficción como herramienta de retención de la audiencia más joven. El caso de Playz en YouTube. Creatividad y sociedad: revista de la Asociación para la Creatividad 34: 159-178. http://creatividadysociedad.com/wp-admin/Art%C3%ADculos/34/Art.%207.pdf.
GOYANES, M., COSTA-SÁNCHEZ, C., & DÉMETER, M. (2021). The social construction of Spanish public television: The role and function of TVE in a multiplatform environment. International Journal of Communication, 15, 20. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/17055
HAGEDOORN, B., EICHNER, S. & GUTIÉRREZ LOZANO, J. F. (2021). The ‘youthifica-tion’of television. Critical studies in television, 16(2), 83-90. https://doi.org/10.1177/174960202110118
IOSIFIDIS, P. (2010). Retos y estrategias: servicio público de televisión en Euro-pa. Infoamérica: Iberoamerican communication review, (3), 7-21. https://www.infoamerica.org/icr/n03_04/iosifidis.pdf
KRAUSS, F. & STOCK, M. (2021). Youthification of television through online me-dia: Production strategies and narrative choices in DRUCK/SKAM Germany. Critical Studies in Television, 16(4), 412-432. https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020211044821
LÓPEZ-GOLÁN, M., RODRÍGUEZ-CASTRO, M. y CAMPOS-FREIRE, F. (2019). La innova-ción de las radiotelevisiones públicas europeas en la comunicación digital y las comunidades de usuarios. Cuadernos. Info, 45, 241-255. https://doi.org/10.7764/cdi.45.1350
MAROTO, I. y RODRÍGUEZ, T. (2018). Estrategias de desarrollo de la televisión pú-blica española: El caso de la plataforma Playz, in V. A. Martínez-Fernández, Ó. Juanatey-Boga, I. Puentes-Rivera, and M. M. Rodríguez-Fernández. (eds), Proceedings of III Simposio Internacional sobre Gestión de la Comunicación, A Coruña, 22–23 March, A Coruña: Rede Internacional de Investigación da Xestión da Comunicación; pp. 662–76. https://xescom2018.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/actas.pdf
MARTIN, D., & JOHNSON, C. (2024). Universality: A battleground for UK public service media in the platform age. The Political Quarterly, 95(1), 25-34. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.13342
MAYORGA-ESCALADA, S. (2019). Netflix, estrategia y gestión de marca en torno a la relevancia de los contenidos. AdComunica, 18, 219–244. https://doi.org/10.6035/2174-0992.2019.18.11
PARDO-LARROSA, I. & MARTÍNEZ-CANO, F. J. (2020). Creación de contenidos audio-visuales y distribución en el siglo XXI. Estudio de caso de Playz y la webserie Neverfilms. Narrativas transmedia a la deriva: del storytelling a las nuevas ficciones audiovisuales, 55-80.
RIVERO, E. A. (2022). Debates teóricos para el estudio de la televisión pública estatal ante la convergencia digital en América Latina. ZER: Revista de Estu-dios de Comunicación, 27(53), 81-99. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1387/zer.23816
ZARAGOZA-FUSTER, M. T. y GARCÍA-AVILÉS, J. A. (2020). The role of innovation labs in advancing the relevance of public service media: The cases of BBC news labs and RTVE LAB. Communication and Society, 33(1), 45-61. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.33.1.45-61
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Gaizka Eguzkitza-Mestraitua, Josep Àngel Guimera i Orts, Miguel Ángel Casado del Río (Autor/a)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors who submit to this journal agree to the following terms:
Authors retain copyright and ensure the magazine's right to be the first publication of the work as licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoComercial 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of authorship of the work and the initial publication in this magazine, with no commercial purpose.
Authors can establish separate additional agreements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the magazine (for example, to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
It allows and authors are encouraged to disseminate their work electronically (eg, in institutional repositories or on their own website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as a citation more early and most of the published work (See The Effect of Open Access).







