Anglophone Danes?

One of the things I am currently working on is further developing an idea from my recent book, World Television From Global to Local (shameless plug alert). Something I was playing with in the last chapter is that people seem to be developing more multi-layered identities that both guide and respond to an increasingly multi-layered set of television productions, channels and choices.

I have been applying that idea to some programming and audience data available in Denmark. While I tend to prefer more qualitative work these days rather than teasing out numbers, the great data elf in the sky decided to place in my path a remarkably tasty (and dauntingly large) data base from the Danish audience ratings people meter system plus television networks' self report of the origins of their programming. Plus this data fits pretty well from what I have been observing and hearing from my colleagues and students.

So, data geek warning on:
Comparing both programming and audiences for US, other Anglophone, Danish, other Nordic, and other European levels of programming and audience viewing from 1993 to 2007, I am finding that Danish programming is still most prominent and most viewed. US programs have increased numerically without the audience really increasing, except among youth. Nordic programming (from Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland) is sort of stagnating, and, an unexpected and really fascinating result, other Anglophone programs (from UK, Australia, etc. -- not including the US) are growing notably in both number and audience, so they are now the third largest source of programs (after Denmark and the US) and the third largest share of audience viewing time spent with different programs. Data geek warning off.

So the interesting theoretical question is, are Danes, particularly younger ones, taking on a new layer of Anglophone interest or maybe even identity, that overlays their continuing interest in Danish TV but maybe replaces or diminishes their identification or interest in other Nordic culture? That may be an overly ambitious question regarding identity, per se, but if I limit the question to what people watch on TV, it certainly looks like something like this is taking place.

One interesting caveat or dilemma in interpreting all this is what to do with programs, like who wants to be a millionaire, where the format is imported from someplace else (Britain seems to be the most popular source for Danes) but produced locally. For the moment, I am throwing those in with other Danish production, but I would like to come back at this later and consider those as a separate issue and maybe look at where formats are coming from parallel to where actual imported programs are coming from.

References: The Joy of Cooking (Data).