Industries: Ownership and control

Media conglomerate research

1) Type up your research notes from the lesson - what did you find out about your allocated media conglomerate? Selection of companies: Alphabet, The Walt Disney Company, National Amusements, Meta, News Corp, Time Warner, Comcast. If you were absent or didn't have time in the lesson to make these notes, research any one of the companies above and find examples of all the terminology outlined in the notes at the start of this blog post.

Name of media conglomerate: National Amusements

Conglomerate ownership: Paramount, CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, Smithsonian Channel, Comedy Central, Viacom

Vertical integration: National Amusements own Viacom that produce films, and they also own multiple cinema chains that distribute films

Horizontal integration: TV (MTV), News (CBS), cinema theatre companies, Online (Paramount+)

Convergence: Viacom, Paramount+ and CBS can all be watched on your phone

Synergy: Paramount films are streamed on Paramount+ and distributed in Cineplex theatres

Diversification: 

- Paramount films moving to Paramount+

- Comedy Central and Smithsonian Channel moving partly to YouTube channels

Cross-media regulation: CBS prevented National Amusements from merging it with Viacom

2) Do you agree that governments should prevent media conglomerates from becoming too dominant? Write an argument that looks at both sides of this debate.

On one hand, I believe that the need for government intervention in the sphere of media should be examined and not always encouraged. This is because there is always potential for the government to abuse this power and many people believe that it is important to let the free market exist without the government controlling what companies do. However, I believe that there is more risk created by the existence of global media conglomerates dominating markets in their current states as oligopolies: independent media institutions are unable to find any business which goes against the concept of a 'free' market where everybody has a chance to grow, and the lack of independent media means there is less diversity in the points of view that are being represented, meaning that public opinion is much more liable to being controlled by a few billionaires who seek to protect themselves and their assets while maintaining status quo. 

Media Magazine reading and questions

Media Magazine 52 has a good feature on the changing relationship between audiences and institutions in the digital age. Go to our Media Magazine archive, click on MM52 and scroll to page 9 to read the article 'Two Key Concepts: The Relationship Between Audience and Institution'.

1) Briefly describe the production, promotion and distribution process for media companies.

The production process provides audiences with the media products they want. It needs to consider the audience’s desires and should provide the gratifications the audience expects.

The promotion process researches and identifies the target audience for the product, and uses advertising and marketing strategies to inform and persuade them of the value of the media product.

The distribution process uses the most appropriate methods for getting the product to the audience and making it as easy as possible for them to access it.

2) What are the different funding models for media institutions?

- Licence fee paid by the public

- Fees paid by advertisers buying advertising space on the channel

- Income is generated by subscription fees and advertising revenue

- Sale of advertising space

3) The article gives a lot of examples of major media brands and companies. Choose three examples from the article and summarise what the writer is saying about each of them.

Disney: Disney is known as a family-friendly brand that focuses on children’s entertainment, specifically animation. They have used a number of iconic logos (Mickey Mouse, the dream castle) to build brand recognition across its products.

Marvel: Marvel Studios is owned by Disney yet has a distinctive branding that separates it from Disney media to audiences. Marvel is tied to the superhero genre and while its movies and shows contain violence, they still reaffirm mainstream values around duty and the need for the strong to protect the weak. 

 

The BBC: The BBC is funded by a licence fee and it has a public service remit, it is more likely to screen programmes with a regional interest than other broadcasters. The BBC is reconsidering its funding structure now on-demand viewing is becoming more popular.

4) What examples are provided of the new business models media companies have had to adopt due to changes in technology and distribution?

- The music industry can no longer generate most of its profits through the sale of music itself, so other ways to make money such as sponsorship, merchandising, and the income generated by live shows are used. Music artists sign away the rights to their music and a ‘360 deal’, a contract that gives the record company a percent of all the income generated by them. 

- The film industry has invested huge amounts of money into the advancement of 3D technology to encourage audiences to watch their films in cinemas.

- The BBC is reconsidering its funding structure now that on-demand viewing is more popular.

- Some online newspapers now require audiences to subscribe to access their content or provide premium content to people who pay for their mobile apps.

- Advertisers find it harder to target audiences via traditional media now and instead are relying on the use of data-mining via social media to find their target audiences.

5) Re-read the section on 'The Future'. What examples are discussed of technology companies becoming major media institutions?

- Google now owns YouTube, and has revolutionised the way we access music and moving-image entertainment and information.

- Amazon, Netflix and Yahoo now create their own TV shows, such as Transparent, Orange is the New Black and Community.

- Facebook has bought the virtual reality technology Oculus Rift, one potential benefit for audiences is that it allows users to attend events without leaving their own homes.

6) Do you agree with the view that traditional media institutions are struggling to survive?

I agree that traditional media institutions are likely to become weaker due to the prevalence of digital forms of media. This is due to convergence, meaning that audiences are now able to access different types of media on a single device. This means that for audiences, convenience is the deciding factor to what form of media they will consume for their own needs; for many people it is much quicker and easier to access a news article written online rather than finding and reading it from a physical newspaper.

7) How might diversification or vertical integration help companies to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing media landscape?

Diversification (media institutions branching out into different areas of the industry) can help companies to grow in the digital age by focusing more on distributing their content via the internet. This is especially relevant in regards to news and the music industry.

Vertical integration (media institutions owning companies along the same chain of production) helps companies to survive by allowing them to reduce costs and therefore make higher profits by eliminating the need to pay for other companies to help produce and distribute their content. This is more relevant for the film and TV industries.

8) How do YOU see the relationship between audience and institution in the future? Will audiences gain increasing power or will the major global media conglomerates maintain their control?

The growth of social media has given audiences a new and unprecedented power in their relationship to the institutions that produce the media they consume, meaning that the ability to communicate directly with directors and stars gives them some amount of control as to what companies will produce, making them more aware of the possibility of public backlash. However, I still believe that the level of control that global media conglomerates have over the media is still harmful, especially in the case of news where opinions of the masses can be manipulated by a small amount of very rich CEOs.