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, Facebook, 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.
Media Conglomerate: 21st Century Fox
Conglomerate Ownership: Fox News, Fox Sports, Blue Sky Studios, Fox Networks, Fox 2000 and Fox Broadcast
Horizontal Integration: Fox Sports, National Geographic and 20th Century Fox
Vertical Integration: Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Television Stations, Fox News, Fox Business and Fox Sports
Diversification: The Times Radio and The Times News have online access now
Synergy: The Times Radio and The Times News
Cross-media Regulation: The suggestion of the Sky takeover was rejected when a regulator said that the sky bid is not in public interest
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 agree with the fact that the government should intervene with media conglomerates when they become too dominant and this is because there will be more competition between conglomerates if their dominance increases. This means that government intervention within media conglomerates could increase the quality of the products that they produce because they are more focused on their own products rather than the competing conglomerates. This also increases the artistic value of media products when dominant conglomerates are intervened by the government because the competition for money is reduced.
On the other hand, it could be said that the government should not intervene with media conglomerates when they become too dominant and this is because two large companies fighting for dominance may come together and create a company with great impact and produce top quality media products. The merge of two conglomerates could also reduce the likelihood of staff being underpaid and overworked because there will be more workers to share the workload.
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.
Production process: provides the audience with media products they want based on their desires and gratifications
Promotion process: targeting a target audience and then using advertising to persuade this audience of the value of the media product
Distribution process: uses the most appropriate method to get a media product to audiences
2) What are the different funding models for media institutions?
License fee, fees payed by advertisers, subscription fees, sales of DVDs and magazines and merchandise
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: a family-friendly brand that focuses on children's entertainment and the consistency of its media products live up to their brand image and parents feel safe to put on a Disney movie for their children and nothing inappropriate will be shown- there is also a number of logos and brand recognition on their products
MARVEL: mainly associated with mainstream superhero films that has build a reputation of providing high standard superhero movies that meet the expectations of an audience
ITV: a company that heavily relies on fees paid by advertisers in order to generate enough money to provide for mainstream audiences rather than niche- this means that they need to depend on a loyal fanbase to provide their profit
4) What examples are provided of the new business models media companies have had to adopt due to changes in technology and distribution?
Sponsorship, merchandising, income generates by live shows, '360 deal' contract, investments in 3D technology, on-demand viewing, subscriptions to access content, paywalls, targeted marketing on social media data-mining, sponsoring influencers
5) Re-read the section on 'The Future'. What examples are discussed of technology companies becoming major media institutions?
Google now owning YouTube
Amazon, Netflix and Yahoo creating and producing and broadcasting their own TV shows
Facebook buying the virtual reality technology
6) Do you agree with the view that traditional media institutions are struggling to survive?
I agree because media companies make a profit by selling tickets and offering subscriptions but as people have started watching media products illegally, the reliance on traditional media institutions is decreasing which means that they are making less profit and that means they are unable to sustain the profession in order to produce high quality products that is expected
7) How might diversification or vertical integration help companies to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing media landscape?
Diversification may help companies survive within the rapidly changing media as the option to access media products in a more relevant and accessible way increases and the outdated format is replaced by more modern ones
Vertical integration allows companies to thrive as it increases the awareness of the audience's gratifications so that their market is understood more
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?
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