Industries: Ownership and Control

National Amusements

Conglomerate Ownership:

what brands, companies or media products is this conglomerate best known for:

Nickelodeon, Nickelodeon JR, Smithsonian channel, CMT, MTV, Comedy Central, Paramount (+), Pluto TV, Showtime, CBS, BET, Viacom CBS, TV land, CNET

Vertical and Horizontal Integration:

CBS, CBSN, CBS Viacom, Paramount (V), MTV, Smithsonian channel, Nickelodeon (H)

Convergence and Synergy:

The Smithsonian is a result of technological change as it had come about and was acquired due to modern streaming services that came about as a result of the internet and at home streaming.

CBSN and CBS promote each other through advertisement and having almost identical names which allow for an audience to understand that it comes from the same media producer or MTV and MTV cribs or Jersey shore.

Diversification:

Through the use of the Smithsonian National Amusements has access to streaming films to people at home. Also the acquisition of Porta dos fundos, which is a Brazilian comedy YouTube channel, this therefore shows that NA looks towards the new tech of YouTube to expand .

Cross-media Regulation:

Attempted takeover of Endurance American specialty insurance company.

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.

One reason for why I would argue that media conglomerates should be prevented from becoming to dominant is that with a singular or very limited selection of media companies can create a situation where people do not have much choice in what media they want to consume as a lot of it may be owned by one large conglomerate while i also think that it may reduce competition of companies which would then negatively affect the creativeness of media products if the companies know that their products are the only pieces of media to be consumed by audiences.

On the other hand I think by restricting media conglomerates through the government would mean that it would be much harder for some companies to do business in other countries and so restricts the type and amount of media that could be shown and distributed to certain places while also denying the monetary gains to producers that would come with acquisitions.

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: Provides audience members with the product that they desire and should consider and provide the gratifications the audience wants 

Promotion: Researches and identifies the target audience for the product and figures out different ways to advertise the product in order to inform and persuade the audience of the media products value.

Distribution: Uses methods in order to get the product out to the audience so that it is easily accessible by the consumer.

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

BBC: The BBC is funded by a licence fee and has public service remit, it is more likely to stream things of regional interest rather than other broadcasters.

ITV: Relies on income from its advertisement and so wants to attract a larger audience rather than niche ones to get as large of a viewer base as possible

Sky One: Gets income from subscriptions and may invest in programming to attract a loyal audience who are more likely to be long time subscribers to guarantee early access to shows they enjoy.

The mail online: Receives more money the longer somebody stays on the site so contains lots of images and videos with lots of sensationalised and controversial headlines to tempt people into clicking.

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. 

Marvel: Associated with familiarity of the product and that it will have something to do with superheroes and this expectation is what identifies the brand.

Disney: The brand of Disney is often associated with being that of family friendly content with symbols identifying them through things like mickey mouses ears of through walt Disney's signature and people are reassured that Disney will provide a wholesome form of entertainment.

Spotify: Allowed for the streaming of free music with ads or through a monthly subscription to access the music without the ads in face of fears that music could easily be downloaded and producers would not be able to make money.

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

In the music industry they can not rely on selling the music directly anymore and have to rely on subscriptions, sponsorships and merchandise in order to get monetary gain, while contracts are signed to have a percentage go back to the studio from the profits generated.

Cinemas invested in 3D cinema to encourage more people to leave their homes and come to the cinemas.

BBC reconsidering its funding structure as on demand streaming becomes more popular.

Some online newspapers now require you to pay subscriptions to view their contents

Advertisers find it more difficult to advertise through traditional media and so have to use targeted marketing based on social media or by sponsoring youtubers to promote their products.

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

Amazon with Netflix and Yahoo

Google with YouTube

Facebook (Meta) with its oculus virtual experiences 

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

I personally believe that traditional media institutions are finding creative ways of surviving and developing in the new climate of media technology, however I think that as technology develops even further and less and less people decide to use traditional media it is likely that traditional media institutions may not make it and survive without immense innovation of their media presentation/production. 

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

By accumulating companies that are at the forefront of the technological and digital revolution it allows these companies to have a safeguard into the future that they can invest into if traditional media starts becoming unprofitable or unstainable in the new digital climate.

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 that as technology continues to develop so will the needs and wants of the audience and consumer so it is hard to say whether people will want more say in what types of media is created or if media companies want or will influenced by the people to change the way they produce media. In the end, I would say that to the companies its all about the profit so if the needs of the consumer change the way they make media and its profitable then there is no reason to say that companies will want to exert or maintain control over audiences.