Krimis crossing borders: Localizing SOKO in Austria. A content and production analysis of the transnational SOKO format

The Austrian SOKO series represents the result of a transnational collaboration between Austrian public service broadcaster ORF and German PSB ZDF. Depicting fictional crime stories, the SOKO format originated in Germany and was later adapted in Austria, in the form of SOKO Kitzbühel and SOKO Donau. This thesis explored how this scripted TV format travelled to Austria, was translated to the respective TV market, and customized through localizations and representations of Austrian characteristics. As previous studies on format adaptation, transnationalization and localization have shown, the TV format industry is a popular field of academic research. However, the combination of a content analysis of the SOKO series together with a production and industry study has not been sufficiently analyzed, leaving motives for format adaptations, insights into transnational collaborations of PSBs and justifications for the way the Austrian SOKOs were developed and created unanswered. A comparative content analysis was instrumentalized to examine selected episodes of the Austrian and German SOKO editions in order to identify similarities and differences between them to subsequently see how the Austrian adaptation manifests itself. The analysis has revealed that except for structural features in the episodes, there are no commonalities between German and Austrian SOKOs, as they show individual characters, independent narratives, and a distinction through localization and the inclusion of humor and Austrian dialects. The second research was dedicated to the conduct of five semi-structured expert interviews with exclusive informants of the ORF, ZDF and responsible production companies of the Austrian SOKOs. Topic for the interviews were the collaboration between PSBs, the adaptation process, peculiarities of the Austrian SOKOs, and differences between the Austrian and German SOKOs. The key findings include a solid cooperation between ORF and ZDF, with the latter having a say in the development of the Austrian SOKOs, nonetheless ensuring creative freedom, and the idea that the SOKOs should convey local color for a transnational audience. The study concludes with the finding that the localizations of the Austrian SOKOs manage to convey a piece of cultural identity and create a homelike feeling for the Austrians and for the Germans an exotic insight into their neighboring country. Moreover, transnational productions contribute not only to the enhancement of national TV broadcasters but also in terms of a larger shared audience.