Seeking the Local, Streaming the Global: Television Uses and Gratifications and the Negotiation of Cultural Identity among Bajau Youth in Sabah, Malaysia

The presence of a community's language and culture on television is never merely a matter of programming; it shapes how minority youth come to see themselves and their place within the nation. This study examines the viewing patterns of local television programmes among Bajau youth in Sabah, Malaysia, and the role such viewing plays in shaping their cultural-social identities. Guided by the Uses and Gratifications framework, which treats audiences as active selectors of media to satisfy felt needs, a structured questionnaire comprising 60 Likert items measuring gratifications sought, media needs and gratifications obtained, together with viewing and programme-interest measures, was administered to 331 Bajau youth aged 15 to 40 across 25 districts in Sabah. All scales were highly reliable (Cronbach's alpha of .98 and above). The findings reveal a clear gap between appetite and access: viewing was concentrated on global streaming platforms (YouTube, M = 2.41; Netflix, M = 2.34) and national commercial channels, while the dedicated local Sabah channels were the least watched, even though stated interest in Sabah-local content (M = 3.76) equalled or exceeded interest in national and international programming. Programme choices were driven by cultural-identity and surveillance gratifications rather than by demographic characteristics, and the pathway from cultural motives sought to identity gratifications obtained was large (r = .77, p < .001), with pride in seeing the Bajau language on screen emerging as the single strongest gratification obtained (M = 4.04). In other words, local television shapes the cultural-social identities of Bajau youth conditionally: it delivers pride, recognition and belonging when local culture appears on screen, yet this identity work is constrained by the scarcity of such content on the platforms that youth actually use. The study recommends that broadcasters and policymakers channel culturally grounded Sabah content onto the streaming platforms where Bajau youth already are, so that the demand for local representation is finally met with supply.

Uses and Gratifications; local television; cultural identity; media representation

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