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.
Meta
Meta Platforms Inc. doing business as Meta, and formerly named Facebook, Inc., and The Facebook, Inc., is an American multinational technology conglomerate based in Menlo Park, California. The company owns and operates Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp, among other products and services. Meta is one of the world's most valuable companies and among the ten largest publicly traded corporations in the United States. It is considered one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Google's parent company Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft.
In addition to Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp, Meta has also acquired Oculus (which it has integrated into Reality Labs), Mapillary, CTRL-Labs, and a 9.99% stake in Jio Platforms; the company additionally endeavoured into non-VR hardware, such as the discontinued Meta Portal smart displays line and presently partners with Luxottica through the Ray-Ban Stories series of smart glasses. Despite endeavours into hardware, the company still relies on advertising for a vast majority of its revenue, which in 2022 made up 97.5 percent of its revenue.
On October 28, 2021, the parent company of Facebook changed its name from Facebook, Inc., to Meta Platforms, Inc., to "reflect its focus on building the metaverse". According to Meta, the term "metaverse" refers to the integrated environment that links all of the company's products and services
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 agree that governments should prevent media conglomerates from becoming too dominant to an extent as it could brainwash people into believing things that aren't true such as the news giving out information that might not be true and then making the public believing facts that aren't real. However, if governments didn't stop media conglomerates from getting too dominant then maybe it might not be a bad thing as then the more power the media have the more self awareness and positive they can spread across the world.
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 forgetting 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?
The BBC is funded by a
licence fee and it has a public service remit, it is more likely to screen programmes with a regional interest than other broadcasters.
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.
Sky One needs an income from subscribers and may well invest in programming that attracts a loyal
audience, who are more likely to invest in a long term subscription to guarantee early access to the shows they enjoy.
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.
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.
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. Going to see a Marvel superhero film is unlikely to offer In the past, this relationship was seen as a power relationship, where most of the power was in the hands of the institutions. This model was based on the idea that the audience was passive and received information from powerful institutions.
In the mid 2000s, Spotify offered an online music service in an attempt to counter free download culture. People could either enjoy free music with ads, for a limited time, or pay a monthly subscription and get access to music without ads.
4) 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. Sponsorship, merchandising, and the income generated by live shows are some of the ways it seeks to recoup its investment. Music artists no longer just sign away the rights to their music; a ‘360 deal’ is a contract that gives the record company a percentage of all the income generated by a musical artist. This would include income from live performances, merchandising deals and any other income the musician generates.
The movie industry has invested enormous sums of money into 3D technology, in order to encourage audiences into cinemas.
5) Re-read the section on 'The Future'. What examples are discussed of technology companies becoming major media institutions?|
1) Google now owns YouTube, and has revolutionised the way we access music and moving-image entertainment and information.
2) Amazon, Netflix and Yahoo now create, produce and ‘broadcast’ their own TV shows, such as Transparent, Orange is the New Black and Community.
3) Facebook has bought the virtual reality technology Oculus Rift 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 I do agree that traditional media institutions are struggling to survive since the growth of technology rapidly evolving media companies just don't have the time or power to catch up with how advanced technology is getting which can put music or even movie companies in a very vulnerable position.
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.
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