ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how streaming services and shifting industrial dynamics are reshaping documentary production, distribution, and form. Based on 15 interviews with industry professionals and academics (conducted between 2015 and 2025) and trade press coverage, it explores how the genre’s rising popularity—particularly in true crime, celebrity biography, and docutainment—has led to increased commissioning by transnational streamers. While digital services have expanded access and visibility, they have also introduced new pressures: aesthetic standardisation, editorial caution, and ethical ambiguity. The chapter maps the genre’s evolution from public good to platform commodity, raising critical questions about its ability to sustain political critique, creative experimentation, and independent storytelling. The conclusion highlights emerging risks to editorial independence, arguing that documentary’s future will depend on alternative funding models, institutional support, and a recommitment to the genre’s public mission.
