Industries: Ownership and control

 Industries: Ownership and control blog tasks

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 blogpost.

News Corp: 

Conglomerate ownership brands that News Corp is best known for: Sky, Fox News, MTV and GQ

Examples of vertical and horizontal integration for News Corp: News Corp exemplifies both strategies: horizontal integration through owning similar media (like The Sun & New York Post) to dominate markets, share content, and reduce costs; and vertical integration by controlling different supply chain stages (e.g., owning book publishing, news, and TV channels), creating synergy, and controlling content flow from creation to distribution across platforms like Fox News. 

Convergence and synergy: Technology has fundamentally changed how audiences access The Wall Street Journal, which is associated with News Corp by shifting access from a singular print-based, one-way information flow to a multi-platform, real-time, interactive, and personalised digital experience. The Wall Street Journal employs several synergistic strategies in its promotional distribution, primarily by integrating its various platforms and using data-driven, cross-media campaigns.

Diversification within News Corp: News Corp has diversified its business to move beyond traditional print media and create a global, digital-first media and information services company and they have expanded into new segments such as digital real estate platforms and business information. News Corp has actively diversified its business and heavily adopted new technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI) and digital platforms, to stay ahead of the competition. The company has strategically shifted its focus from traditional print advertising to digital revenues and new content streams. 

Cross media-regulation - examples of News Corp getting into trouble with government regulators:  News Corp has faced significant trouble with government regulators and official inquiries, particularly in the UK and Australia. The most notable example is the News of the World phone-hacking scandal in the UK, which led to a major inquiry and the newspaper's closure. Another is UK Ofcom Plurality rules when News Corp tried to take over Sky (2010-2017).

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.

Yes I do agree because then it allows other smaller companies to have a more fair market share and become successful to an extent as well. However, each company should have to compete for their success and at the same time if one company dominates the media due to their popularity then it is also fair because they are all hard working and competing for the same thing so they all have a fair chance to be the dominant media company overall so I don't fully agree but I do think that all media should be regulated either way to fit purposes of the audiences.

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?

BBC, ITV, Sky One, Sony, The MailOnline

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. 

1. Disney is known as a family-friendly brand that focuses on children’s entertainment. It has built on its original reputation for animation, created early in the 20th century, through the construction of a ‘universe’ of merchandising and branded products, including Disneyland and the Disney Princess franchise. Parents can feel reassured that a Disney product will provide a wholesome form of entertainment appropriate for children. Disney has used a number of now iconic logos (the dream castle, Walt Disney’s signature, Mickey’s ears) to allow brand recognition across all their products.
2. Marvel is inextricably associated with the superhero genre as the film production studio developed from its hugely popular original comic book publications. Marvel superhero films may well contain lots of violence; but they will also reinforce mainstream values around duty, sacrifice, personal responsibility and the need for the strong to protect the weak. Like Disney, the Marvel brand constructs a familiar and reassuring expectation for the audience.
3. ITV relies on income generated by advertisers. This means that appeal to a large audience are seen as more valuable than ones with smaller niche audiences

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 has invested enormous sums of money into 3D technology, in order to encourage

audiences into cinemas.

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

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

• Advertisers find it harder to target audiences via traditional media (TV and magazines, for example) and alternative strategies are employed, for instance, using targeted marketing based on social media data-mining (see Nick Lacey’s article in this issue), or sponsoring YouTube stars to include their products in their lifestyle blogs.

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

Technology companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Google and Yahoo are, by their very nature, at the forefront of change; they too have become ‘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, produce and ‘broadcast’ their own TV shows, such as Transparent, Orange is the New Black and Community.

• Facebook has bought the virtual reality technology Oculus Rift (see MM51); one potential benefit for audiences is that it allows users to ‘attend’ and ‘experience’ events without leaving their own homes.

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

Yes because they aren't frequently consumed by modern audiences so modern audiences find alternative modern media institutions to follow and view. Therefore, they have to adapt to modern technology and media consumption methods in order to actually survive in the industry.

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

Diversification reduces risk as it doesn't fully rely on only one source of revenue and it can help maximise profits for the company. Vertical integration is helpful because it creates barriers to entry for competitors and gives the company stronger control over content availability and pricing.

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 think audiences will gain more power in the future because they are becoming more and more active every day and convergence allows them to have control over the media they consume and also review it and leave feedback for media companies and conglomerates to take on board. This makes the big companies and conglomerates lose control in their projects and media products because the audience controls what they make based on what they want, and this has to be followed in order to guarantee success for the companies. I also think many smaller companies will rise and become more popular slowly being brought up by diverse cultures and fans so this may also make conglomerates lose some of their control.