The Media Landscape
Lecture 1
Media Industry
It’s made up of the traditional conception (broadcasting, print, film and recording
industries), but also advertising, marketing and PR industries and lastly social media
companies (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
Yet it’s hard to pinpoint what is or isn’t a media company, since there’s not a perfect
fit.
Netflix is currently a media company, but it wasn’t in its inception.
Google isn’t considered a media company, but it’s slightly fuzzy.
Uber has an app, but it’s not a media company.
Media company: a company whose primary function is to produce or distribute
media content.
This means that the media industry has changed drastically, as the new media
companies force the traditional members to fight for their space/relevance.
Mass Media
It’s considered to be media in the traditional sense
Radio, TV, print newspapers
Key characteristics
1. One to many, one-way communication
a. Identical message to a mass audience, shared experience by audience. Used
to have only a few or even a single radio/TV show.
2. Experiential goods
a. Media products are an experience and its value comes from its immaterial
attributes. It’s connected to originality, intellectual property and stories told.
3. High fixed/“first copy” costs
a. The first copy, the first material costs a lot more than the rest of them.
b. Low marginal costs
c. Economies of Scale: price per unit decreases as quantity of output increases
(until a certain point!)
4. Potential for cheap re-versioning
a. Re-selling the content in different formats (from print to a movie, movie to
DVD, etc.)
b. Leads to economies of scope: average production costs decrease as variety of
output increases
5. High risk!
, a. The high first copy costs regardless of how many consumers
b. Consumers’ taste is fickle and hard to predict, may cause the content to
“bomb” AKA cost a lot more than it earns in sales with any media product
regardless of the amount loss.
Mass Media Market
It is a dual-product market.
Media companies produce two things
1. Content, sold to the audience.
2. Audiences, sold to advertisers.
The second market theory is where the money is mostly brought in
Attention economy: attention is the real product being sold/bought
The result is that advertising goals influence content or strategy
Problematic for journalism, particularly, as you get more attention from
“tabloid-like” headlines. Even good sources of news sometimes resort to
sensationalism/tabloid headlines.
Broader inherent tension:
Creative industries vs Commercial Needs
If you don’t put ads in, you may not get money back.
Yet the mass media market is changing due to digitalisation/digital technologies
There are four main outcomes due to this
1. Convergence: previously separated channels fused; channels, content &
computing. This can be seen with smartphones or computers.
2. Interactivity: two-way replaces one-way communication; users become (mass)
producers. Audience can get in touch with journalists/news, can get in touch
with content producers in general.
3. Diversification: heightened user control and choice; fragmentation/expansion of
content. You can access many more different channels and you can choose what
you will watch whenever you want. Consequently, the content produced is very
different.
4. Mobility: media “on the go” becomes norm; “always on” culture. You can always
be connected with smartphones or even small laptops.
Another problem is that media companies should be held socially responsible.
They’re not commercial companies such as shoe companies.
Few core responsibilities
Forum for exchange of ideas/opinions
Integrative influence for diverse societies
, Protection of core values/vulnerable audiences, they may speak and give
them a place within their programs.
These apply mostly to journalism, but it can also apply to other media companies.
Reactions to change
Since the media market has changed so much, society has strong reactions to these
changes.
McLuhan’s optimism:
The technology itself matters not the content. The medium is the message.
Every new technology extends the senses.
New media is mostly “cooler” media.
Liberates audiences from hierarchies, isolation
Away from official/formal talk toward everyday/colloquial talk
Moves towards the institution of a “global village”.
Postman’s pessimism:
He claims the new media sets society back intellectually.
He claims in the print age, information was detailed, relevant, localised, coherent
and rational. This made people well situated and informed on their society.
Post-telegraph: dazzling stories from afar outweigh the relevant and local
information. It doesn’t help people to be informed about their local society
TV/ images leads to more superficial information and news
At the end, he says having so many options and news, the attention span and
rationality of people has decreased. We grow more impatient to wait and digest
content, we can be bombarded with information quickly.
In the end, the audience becomes more passive.
Critiques of the reactions:
They’re both technologically determinist
They claim the technology itself is the primary source of social change,
without taking the social context and content into account.
The technology is overplayed and simplified
Ignores power relations behind development or use,.
Lecture 1
Media Industry
It’s made up of the traditional conception (broadcasting, print, film and recording
industries), but also advertising, marketing and PR industries and lastly social media
companies (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
Yet it’s hard to pinpoint what is or isn’t a media company, since there’s not a perfect
fit.
Netflix is currently a media company, but it wasn’t in its inception.
Google isn’t considered a media company, but it’s slightly fuzzy.
Uber has an app, but it’s not a media company.
Media company: a company whose primary function is to produce or distribute
media content.
This means that the media industry has changed drastically, as the new media
companies force the traditional members to fight for their space/relevance.
Mass Media
It’s considered to be media in the traditional sense
Radio, TV, print newspapers
Key characteristics
1. One to many, one-way communication
a. Identical message to a mass audience, shared experience by audience. Used
to have only a few or even a single radio/TV show.
2. Experiential goods
a. Media products are an experience and its value comes from its immaterial
attributes. It’s connected to originality, intellectual property and stories told.
3. High fixed/“first copy” costs
a. The first copy, the first material costs a lot more than the rest of them.
b. Low marginal costs
c. Economies of Scale: price per unit decreases as quantity of output increases
(until a certain point!)
4. Potential for cheap re-versioning
a. Re-selling the content in different formats (from print to a movie, movie to
DVD, etc.)
b. Leads to economies of scope: average production costs decrease as variety of
output increases
5. High risk!
, a. The high first copy costs regardless of how many consumers
b. Consumers’ taste is fickle and hard to predict, may cause the content to
“bomb” AKA cost a lot more than it earns in sales with any media product
regardless of the amount loss.
Mass Media Market
It is a dual-product market.
Media companies produce two things
1. Content, sold to the audience.
2. Audiences, sold to advertisers.
The second market theory is where the money is mostly brought in
Attention economy: attention is the real product being sold/bought
The result is that advertising goals influence content or strategy
Problematic for journalism, particularly, as you get more attention from
“tabloid-like” headlines. Even good sources of news sometimes resort to
sensationalism/tabloid headlines.
Broader inherent tension:
Creative industries vs Commercial Needs
If you don’t put ads in, you may not get money back.
Yet the mass media market is changing due to digitalisation/digital technologies
There are four main outcomes due to this
1. Convergence: previously separated channels fused; channels, content &
computing. This can be seen with smartphones or computers.
2. Interactivity: two-way replaces one-way communication; users become (mass)
producers. Audience can get in touch with journalists/news, can get in touch
with content producers in general.
3. Diversification: heightened user control and choice; fragmentation/expansion of
content. You can access many more different channels and you can choose what
you will watch whenever you want. Consequently, the content produced is very
different.
4. Mobility: media “on the go” becomes norm; “always on” culture. You can always
be connected with smartphones or even small laptops.
Another problem is that media companies should be held socially responsible.
They’re not commercial companies such as shoe companies.
Few core responsibilities
Forum for exchange of ideas/opinions
Integrative influence for diverse societies
, Protection of core values/vulnerable audiences, they may speak and give
them a place within their programs.
These apply mostly to journalism, but it can also apply to other media companies.
Reactions to change
Since the media market has changed so much, society has strong reactions to these
changes.
McLuhan’s optimism:
The technology itself matters not the content. The medium is the message.
Every new technology extends the senses.
New media is mostly “cooler” media.
Liberates audiences from hierarchies, isolation
Away from official/formal talk toward everyday/colloquial talk
Moves towards the institution of a “global village”.
Postman’s pessimism:
He claims the new media sets society back intellectually.
He claims in the print age, information was detailed, relevant, localised, coherent
and rational. This made people well situated and informed on their society.
Post-telegraph: dazzling stories from afar outweigh the relevant and local
information. It doesn’t help people to be informed about their local society
TV/ images leads to more superficial information and news
At the end, he says having so many options and news, the attention span and
rationality of people has decreased. We grow more impatient to wait and digest
content, we can be bombarded with information quickly.
In the end, the audience becomes more passive.
Critiques of the reactions:
They’re both technologically determinist
They claim the technology itself is the primary source of social change,
without taking the social context and content into account.
The technology is overplayed and simplified
Ignores power relations behind development or use,.
