Industries: Ownership and control

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, Meta, 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.

Warner Bros. Inc., U.S. film studio. Beginning in Pennsylvania as movie distributors and theatre owners in 1903, the four Warner brothers started producing their own films in 1913 and moved to Hollywood in 1917.

Time warner:

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.

Agree:

Governments should regulate these media conglomerates to prevent one company from holding a monopoly in the media, making it unfair for anyone else who wishes to establish themselves in the media market. Without government regulation, monopolies could put prices above the competitive equilibrium. This would lead to allocative inefficiency and a decline in consumer welfare.

Disagree:

Companies should be able to expand freely if they wish. If one company becomes dominant, then it means that they have worked extremely hard to reach that point and its efforts should be respected. Capitalism should be a free market to expand and grow.

Conclusion:

It is necessary to stop media conglomerates from becoming too dominant as if one company has enough power, they can control and manipulate the market with ease.

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?

Income from advertising

Income from subscriptions

Funded by a public licence fee

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.

Waitrose - a sophisticated, affluent gourmet experience

Asda - associated with the family values of economy, good value, and unpretentiousness.

Disney - a family-friendly brand that focuses on children’s entertainment.

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

Advertising

Subscriptions

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

I agree with this as traditional media institutions are used to everything being physical and tangible but with the rise of the internet, they are struggling to move with the times as it requires them to change their entire business model and strategy.

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

Vertical integration creates seamlessness and helps cut costs. Diversification allows companies to own market share in many different types of media so if one area collapses, the whole company isn't doomed.

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?

Audiences are gaining power as the internet has allowed ordinary people to become famous through the likes of Youtube and Tiktok.