Industries: Ownership and control

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 don't have the notes, research any of the companies above and find examples of all the terminology outlined in the notes at the start of this blogpost.

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 the government should prevent media conglomerate becoming too dominant because is they become too dominant it would be very hard for the much smaller companies to get more awareness and profit as more audience wold go with the media conglomerates.

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'.

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

production 

Production process is when the actually product is being made by the company. Promotion media companies would be the company that makes awareness of the product to the right target audiences. Distribution process for media companies would be the product actually being sold to the audience.

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

ITV: relies on the income made by the advertisers.

BBC: license fee paid by the public.

Sky One: Income generated by subscription fees and advertising revenue.

5) 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: Going to see a Marvel superhero film is unlikely to offer many surprises, but it is precisely this familiarity that has enabled the studio to produce enormously successful films since the late 1990s.

Disney:  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.

The Mail One: receives more income the longer a reader stays on the site, so stories will feature lots of images and videos, and sensationalised or controversial headlines.

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

The music industry can no longer generate most of its profits through the sale of music itself, so other ways to make money have been sought.
The BBC is reconsidering its funding structure now on-demand viewing is becoming more popular.
The online newspapers now require audiences to subscribe to access their content or provide premium content to those who pay for mobile apps.

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

>Amazon, Netflix and Yahoo now create, produce and ‘broadcast’ their own TV shows, such as Transparent, Orange is the New Black and Community.
>Google now owns YouTube, and has revolutionised the way we access music and moving-image entertainment and information.

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

I agree with the view that traditional media institutions are struggling to survive because of the audience not wanting to watch it and more institutions coming out which increases the competition.

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

Diversification would help companies survive longer in a rapidly changing media landscape.

10) 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 feel like that the audience and institution in the future will have a stronger relationship as this is a more digital age and more technologies coming out. The audience would be more dominating in this relationship.