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, Comcast, 21st Century Fox, Meta, Viacom, News Corp, Time Warner. 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 blogpost.

Alphabet:

-Subsidaries: Google, Waymo, Verily, Google Fiber. These are all examples of Vertical Integration as all of Alphabet's subsidiaries are linked to technology and the internet. Alphabet does have convergence as Google is practically on every device available. 

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.

I believe that Governments should prevent media conglomerates from becoming too dominant as i believe that other small media companies should also have a chance at being well known, for example certain indie films and media companies produce such great films with important messages for their audience and i believe that those media companies should have the recognition they deserve as they are promoting good media which could change people's views and opinions about the media. 

Media Magazine reading and questions

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

The production process provides audiences with the media products they want, they need to consider the audience's desires and should provide the gratifications the audiences expects. The promotion process researches and identifies the target audience for the product, they use advertising and marketing strategies to 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 easy for them to access it. 

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

The BBC is funded by a licence fee and has a Public Service Remit, ITV relies on income generated by advertisers. Sky One generates their income from subscribers and invests in programming that attracts loyal audiences who are more likely to invest in a long term subscription, TheMailOnline receives more income the longer a reader stays on the site. 

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 is a family-friendly brand that focuses on children's entertainment, it has built it's original reputation for animation. Disney also has merchandising and branded products like Disneyland. Disney uses a number of iconic logos to allow brand recognition across all of their products. 

Marvel is associated with the superhero genre as it developed from popular original comic books. Marvel's superhero films may contain lots of violence but they also reinforce mainstream values around duty,sacrifice, personal responsibility and the need to protect the weak. Marvel movies are unlikely to offer surprises but this brings a sense of familiarity to these successful films. 

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

The movie industry have invested loads of money into 3D technology in order to encourage audiences into cinemas, Online newspapers now require audiences to subscribe to access their content/provide premium content to those who pay for mobile apps. The music industry now has to generate profit through sponsorship's, merchandising and live performances. 

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

Companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Google and Yahoo have now become major media institutions as Google owns YouTube, Amazon, Netflix and Yahoo now create, produce and 'broadcast' their own TV shows and Facebook has bought the virtual reality technology Oculus Rift which allows users to experience and attend events without having to leave their own homes. 

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

I do agree that traditional media institutions are struggling to survive as most audiences are rejecting traditional TV programming, newspapers and cinema exhibitions and are more interested in on demand, streaming platforms, online news websites and in order to make profit they need to adapt to these digital changes. 

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

Diversification can help out a company thrive in a rapidly changing media landscape as if a film is only being shown in cinemas and no where else they are less likely to make profit and would benefit from showcasing their film on a streaming website such as Amazon Prime or Netflix. Vertical integration can also help a company as if they owned a range of businesses they could make a lot of profit and increase their brand image and become a familiar brand which can benefit their company. 

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?

I believe that in the future audiences can gain increasing power as they can boycott a company into doing something, for example: Consumers of Netflix were annoyed when they took off The Vampire Diaries of Netflix and Netflix gaining lots of criticism for this decision put back Vampire Diaries back on Netflix. However, global media conglomerates can maintain their control as they are giant, wealthy companies which easily can cover up their tracks if something happened.