Content Localisation And Viewer Needs Gratification: A Study Of “Kumkum Bhagya” Viewers

Abstract

Soap operas are among the most popular TV genres in the United States and around the world (Allen 1995). As the world moves into a more technological paradigm, the uses and gratifications people have for watching television differ. While entertainment is the most manifest and visible function of television, research has identified other uses and effects related to its socializing role. A breadth of scholarly literature have already analyzed the influence of soap opera viewing on various audiences, however, the translation of original soap opera language into the Twi dialect is a relatively developing phenomenon in Ghana that has not received much scholarly attention. This study examined the needs viewers of “Kumkum Bhagya” sought to gratify, the importance of the Twi translations to viewers and it also looked at viewers’ readiness to consume similar media products on Ghanaian television. As a television genre in a constant state of progress, soap operas have become one medium of cultural learning to most Ghanaians, young and old alike. The study revealed that viewers mostly patronised “Kumkum Bhagya” for affective and cognitive reasons and were ready to patronise similar soap operas translated into the Twi language.