From Odeón to Cine.ar Play

Abstract

This article analyzes the last decade structure and dynamics of the Argentine cinema market, considering the transformations in distribution and consumption resulting from the dissemination of video-on-demand platforms within the convergent concentration context that cultural industries are going through. In that respect, it explores and describes the characteristics, evolution, and performance of Odeón –launched in November 2015 as a platform that provided free nationalaudio-visual content– and its continuity through Cine.ar Play –name assumed in 2017– and Cine.ar Estrenos– a paid service to watch films simultaneously with their premiere in the National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts theaters. From the perspective of the Political Economy of Communication, it examines the trends in discontinuous audio-visual sector –in particular, the cinema branch– and the government actions towards it. The final part of that process, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, allows to reflect on the impact generated by the emergence of web services which exhibit audio-visual content over the local cinema commercial circuit and to rethink the regulatory framework challenges that the new scenario presents.