Komodifikasi Penyiaran Agama Hindu Melalui Media YouTube Pada Era Pandemi Covid-19

Abstract

The Covid-19 Pandemic era demands a new life order to shift changes in the performance system from offline to online performance. Religious figures who elaborate themselves with changes in living systems that are more dominant in virtual activity mechanisms by using various social media platforms as a forum for expressing and pouring out all their dharma discourse activities. The most popular platform is YouTube media. Hindu "pendharma wacana" has a YouTube account containing "dharma wacana" content which contains various kinds of the essence of Hinduism. Hindu religious broadcasting content through YouTube media that uses religious or spiritual elements as commodities to attract the attention of audiences. The purpose of this study is to identify the form and process of commodification of Hindu religious teachings through YouTube media in the Covid-19 pandemic era and the implications of the commodification of Hindu religious teachings broadcasting through YouTube in the Covid-19 pandemic era. This study was studied using the Political Economy of Communication theory pioneered by Vincent Mosco to analyze the problem formulations in the study, namely related to the form, process, and implications of the commodification of Hindu religious teaching through YouTube media in the Covid-19 pandemic era. The research method used in this research is descriptive qualitative. The result of the research is that there has been a commodification of Hindu religious broadcasting through YouTube media during the Covid-19 Pandemic Era. In this era, Hindu religious instructors took advantage of digital technology to disseminate Hinduism. Commodification occurs in the process of seeking profits through advertisers who take advantage of the YouTube account subscribers. The increase in the use of YouTube as a medium was driven by restrictions on community activities during the Covid-19 Pandemic era. Because of these restrictions, people are more actively using online media than ever before.