Modern day life is heavily influenced by the media around us. Whether it be the next big hit in the TV industry or a story in the newspaper that effects us all. This guide will be exploring the 9 sectors within the media industry whilst exploring the various types of ownership.
Structure's of the 9 sectors
The main 9 sectors of the industry consist of: Film, TV, Radio, Publishing,Advertising and Marketing, Animation, Interactive Media, Games and Photo Imaging. So how is each sector structured?
Film
The main purpose of the film industry is to create feature length films; aimed towards large target audiences, which in turn makes companies profit, Although many of us see the film industry as just a producer of films, the industry is based upon 3 main components: pre-production, production and post production.
(Image from: http://dcdagency.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/atlanta-video-production-cost-pricing.jpg)
In the pre-production stage the film industry plans out the stories/scripts and begins to draw story boards and gathered actors and props. After this is done the companies move onto production which is actually filming the narrative planned out in pre-production. This is then edited together in the post production stage and creates a feature length film for us at home. Stand alone in the UK there are a total of 27,800 members of staff in the Film Industry. This figure is likely to change frequently due to different demands from the media sector, However, the Film industry is one of the biggest growing sectors and is more than likely to increase in employee numbers.
(Image from: http://indiesunchained.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/uk_film_council.jpg)
In 2012 the independent released an article, proving the growth of film industry. It quotes " The number of British documentaries released at cinemas in the UK and Ireland has almost doubled over the past five years, and total box office takings have increased from £700,000 in 2007 to almost £6m last year." this confirms a growth in the industry due to the fact that numbers of films released has increased, which has caused more revenue to be brought in so more films can be made. Due to the fact that more films are being made, means more staff are needed. This creates a correlation between the two of which both are increasing.
Although, unlike America the UK does not have Hollywood (But it does have pinewood studios) therefore, there are less big companies working on films and more smaller companies working on independent films ,independent often have lower budgets than blockbuster films, the United Kingdom.These companies are more likely to be independent and not owned by conglomerates (Read further on for more detail). Some examples of smaller companies are Pico Pictures, JW films which made the movie under the skin starring Scarlet Johanson another example is liberty films, which is working on a biopic based on Ian Fleming.
(Image from:http://cdn-static.denofgeek.com/sites/denofgeek/files/styles/article_main_wide_image/public/under-the-skin.jpg?itok=cf-KJaCl)
Another famous film that was produced by an indepent film company is "Pulp Fiction" which was produced by Miramax films. It starred a full cast of well known actors such as: Samuel Jackson, Tim Roth, John Travolta and Bruce Willis. The film made over $210 million at the box office and is still a hit culture film today.
Moving on to America, we see the larger films companies dominate the box office bringing in more revenue than anywhere other counties around the world.
(Image from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBocam_fNZao_FS7aPAaH4LNEpoJ4pMJWTtQw9u9vhjJOlZARmwcEZ6WuzgNmOR2NuCe3FP6al_o_QNkHNVxu6jyKmFKCMRJLkKwT_cgdAQ8_rLeLVbyMrd9ETq9YzUpCPSOHtxjO00vM/s1600/Film-Market-Share.png)
This demographic shows the size of the country compared to the revenue gained by the box office. From which we learn that America is the most dominant in the film industry, and can be expect to have around *5 times as much staff than the UK. Just by looking at the gross earnings of both country's. The most leading companies at the minute consist of: Warner Bros, Disney, Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Paramount studios. Well know movies such as the Avengers, The Dark Knight, Charlie and the Chocolate factory and Transformers have been created by these companies. Large companies are owned by private companies with public companies being funded by the public. A well known public company that creates films are the BBC and have brought out films such as "what we did on our holiday" which starred well known British actors.
This image is from: (http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/business/Box_Office_Detailed.PNG)
Further evidence from images show how the industry rapidly changes each year but tends to make more money each year, Thus further expanding the industry but also creating more jobs for countries all over the world. To sum up, at the top of the chain is the Hollywood community with the "Big Ten" film companies that dominate the market; leading on from that we have the smaller communities such as Bollywood, an Indian film community known as Hindi cinema. After the film communities we then break down into the smaller side of the industry with independent film makers in smaller countries such as the UK and Australia.
The highest grossing film this year (as off 16/10/14) is Guardians of the Galaxy according to Box office Mojo. Which was made by none other than Marvel (owned by Disney).
TV
The main purpose of TV is to produce various amounts of shows in a variety of genre's to appeal to all viewers. Genres can range from documentaries, horror, comedy , sci fi etc... Although we watch TV on channels provided such as BBC,ITV,HBO and Sky. Most of the shows are produced by specific companies which are commissioned for the channels. A well know example is the TV show the "The Great British Bake Off" which is produced by Love Productions but is aired on the BBC.
This year the GBBO reached record figures and drew in a larger audience than the world cup final in this report by the telegraph. It states: "While 12.1 million people tuned into BBC One to see Germany beat Argentina 1-0 in Brazil in July, 12.3 million viewers watched the same channel on Wednesday night to see Nancy Birtwhistle crowned as the winner of this year's Great British Bake Off. " (UK figures) Which is an achievement in the UK as the world cup was a world wide famous event. Which proves that independent companies can produce good quality television.
(Image from: http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article4162759.ece/alternates/s615/Hodgson-bake-off.jpg)
Now lets look at Love Productions in some more detail: Love Productions is an independent company based in the UK set up in 2004. Some of the areas they have bases in are: London, Bristol, New York and L.A. They have also produced the following TV shows:
- Junior Bake Off
- The Mary Berry Story
- Newlyweeds.
Another indepent company is one of the UK's largest, Endemol. A statement from the Endemol website states: "Endemol creates innovative formats that have changed the face of popular culture." Some of the big shows Endemol have produce are: Big Brother, 8 out of 10 Cats and Bad Education. These formats have then went on to sell to other producers and have made money of it. With Big Brother one of the first reality tv shows (First aired in 2000), it influeced TV all over the UK. With several series doing parodies and spoofs of the format by comedians such as: Alan Carr, Ricky Gervais and Justin Lee Collins.
- Aardman (An animation company famous for Wallace and Grommit)
- Sony
- Hatrick (Famous for for Outnumbered)
- Twofour
- All3media
- Rondo
For a full list of 100 production companies in the UK, following the link here.
There is also private TV companies which own a series of other companies. For example All3media owns the following companies: inc bentley, One Potato Two Potato and Studio Lambert. All3media is also an international company but does produce TV shows for the UK. With Bently productions creating TV shows like Midsummer Murders which airs on ITV in the UK. Another company owned by All3media is Objective Productions which makes the TV show the Cube, which also airs on ITV. The current net worth of All3media is 1.7 million according to comanycheck.com.
There is also public companies working in the TV industry. With the most well known being the BBC. Which is funded by the public state and does not make profit, but instead puts in back into the industry. The BBC offers a wide range of channels ranging from BBC1 -BBC4. With some programs being produced in house or by production companies. BBC 1 focus's on producing a variety of genres for the audience to watch from Soap Operas - Comedies. According to BARB, the most watched tv show was Eastenders in 1986, of which is created by the BBC in house at the Elstree Centre.Whilst other BBC channels (BBC 3 for example) focuses on specific genres such as sub genres of Comedy.
See the Public Ownership section for a full explanation on how public companies are funded.
(Image from)
Currently in the UK there are 55,800 working in the TV industry. This is the second biggest media industry in the UK and is expected because of the sheer amount of content that is avaible to watch. With hundeards of channels available 24/7 there is currently no lack of content. Although this is number for the UK, In america last year (According to Indiewire) "For 50 years there were 60 or 70 scripted original series in America. There will be about 350 this year, and probably 400 next year." This means that there is an exponential growth in the TV industry and it isn't slowing down. Apply this to the UK and you can expect a similar growth, meaning the number of staff employed may well increase.
So to sum up with have the large TV channels, then the large TV production companies and then the small TV production companies.
Radio
The main purpose of radio is to entertain the listeners that tune into the broadcast; radio shows do this in many ways, such as; playing live/pre recorded music, news, weather and game shows hosted by the presenters. There are 2 types of radio, commercial and non profitable. The main example of non profitable radio is the BBC radio channels which are owned by the public state. This means that the general public pay into a service to fund it, of which all money goes into the shows and not for profit. For the BBC the public pay for a licence fee which covers all of the BBC's media. (More details further on in guide). Because the public pay into the service, the BBC provides a variety in radio channels to appeal to all types of listener.
(Image from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcauIScr9NTfKIakMA8VlFf1lVYXz7-2zlBURFeGWftW0VV0BX4lxR0D7mF8gHKOmTuWJtgUmWMTvD6j2V5TSOMifxb6hyphenhyphenl91PMLSvPrZA5b1-VzrK454t1lnXBO0y4L7rDHIpop-OLlxa/s1600/bbc+radio.gif)
BBC 1 specializes in modern and popular music charts in its regular broadcasting day. With its target audience mainly being aimed at ages 15-29. On the other hand Radio 2 focuses on music from the 60's and 70's to appeal to an older audience and is played on the frequency FM, a type of modulation used in the broadcasting audio. Last of all Radio 3 focus's on classical music, opera along with jazz and world music.
Whilst public owned stations focus on a range of audiences. Commercial radio stations focus on niche target audiences. With some stations, they own a series of radio channels and focus on a variety of audiences. Commercial radio normal uses the frequencies of FM, AM is out now out of date and is rarely used due to advances in technology. With DAB also being used as a substitute (Digital audio broadcasting) which uses binary rather than analogue signals which can easily be interfered with. As DAB can multiplex information and send more information at a time but the quality is lower.
(Image from: https://reptilelikeme.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/digital-vs-analog.gif)
Commercial radio channels are also local stations and are specific to location whilst public radio often spans across the UK. Examples of commercial radio consist of:
(Image from:http://www.copmedia.co.uk/images/radio_logos.jpg)
For example Capital is a group of networks owned by Global radio (Radio conglomerate) and spans across the UK. However in the north east we are only able to hear the broadcast coming from Newcastle due to limited receivers and transmitters. Capital North east uses the frequencies of 106.4Mhz in Teesside and mainly plays the latest hits during the day. Unless the presenter hosts a segment at specific times to draw certain audiences in. For example having a "on demand hour" where listeners can request their own choice of song. Capital is a CHR radio station, which stands for contemporary hits radio. This means they get the right to play songs earlier than other stations and that there music is aimed more towards 13-28 year olds as they play more up to date songs.
Currently in the UK 22,000 staff work in the industry and is one of the Media sectors for having the most employed. The radio industry occasional adds new stations but so far nothing massively important is happening so the numbers will roughly stay the same. Although in an unpredictable industry anything can change.
(Image from: https://d28wbuch0jlv7v.cloudfront.net/images/infografik/normal/chartoftheday_2665_Digital_Hasn't_Killed_the_Radio_Star_n.jpg)
A graph from the US further explains that even since we have been introduced to new ways of playing music, radio remains the most popular way of doing so by a massive 85%. So the radio industry is safe at the minute in terms of employment size.
To sum up: at the top of the league is the larger companies who own several radio stations/channels, we than have the commercial companies which are designed to make profit. Then last of all we have public radio which is funded by the state and is designed to make entertainment without making any commercial gain.
Publishing
The main purpose of publishing is to prepare/issue books, comics, posters ,journals, newspapers and any other projects for sale. This turns the authors/creators work into something the general public can enjoy and use. Publishing is currently the UK's largest industry with around 148,000 staff in current employment. This is expected as everyday large newspaper companies publish a newspaper and supplement to go with it.
(Image from: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/04/14/business/adco190.jpg)
So if they produce a paper for everyday and the company has been around for 150 years that that would mean they have produced over 52,500 newspapers. Apply this to 10 companies and the total would be a huge 520,000 newspapers per person.Then apply this to the average amount of people in the UK (63.1 million in 2013) we have a total of over 3 billion newspapers a year. Throw in the other sub sectors of the industry and the total keeps on increasing. The number of staff could easily increase/decrease with current climates. For example, in 2011 the newspaper "News of the World" (Sister company to the "The Sun" owned by Rupert Murdoch) that closed due to phone hacking scandals, this caused the loss of 200 jobs. Some companies may also be free lance publishers so are not always in employment.
(Image from: http://www.courantalumni.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/newspaper-employees-chart.gif)
Using this chart as an example, we see that over the years the number of staff in newspaper publishing has decreased to the 250,000 - 300,000 area. Although the graph does not state the area this concept can be applied to the UK figure. If this graph is to be believed then we could see a rapid decrease (notice the line dips suddenly on graph), in the newspaper sub sector which can have an effect overall.
Now that we have had a look at how big the industry is;lets look at the big 5 companies that are in the publishing industry:
- Hatchete Book Group (Larget publishing group in France)
- Harper Collins (Owned by News Corp, one of the big 6 conglomerates led by Rupert Murdoch)
First founded in New York in 1817 and published work for famous figures such as John F Kennedy. Some recent books they have published are: "The Liars Key" by Mark Lawrence, "Munnu" by Malik Sajad and "Left of the Bang" by Claire Lowdon.
Is global company and has imprints in: Germany, UK, Austrilla and South Africa. They have published books such as "Son Of No One" by Sherylin Kenyon, "Bathing the Lion" by Jonathon Carrol and "Killing Patton" by Bill O'Reily.
Is a creation of a merger between the Penguin group, Bertlesmann and Random House in 2013. They have published books such as "Tony Blair A Journey" by Tony Blair, Bill Clintons " My Life" and "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseni.
Is one of the big companies in the UK and are based in London. They also run a distribution service for a series of independent companies such as Viz Media, Black Library and Rebellion. They have published books such as "The Last Refuge" by Craig Robertson, "Black Ice" by Becca Fitzpatrick and " The Long Shadow" by David Reynolds.
(Image from: http://authorearnings.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/The_Data_-_A_Look_at_Author_Earnings_pages2.png)
Using this pie chart we can see that most people buy books from the "Big 5" and that books published by independent companies are the least popular.
Now that we have looked at some big companies lets look at some of the smaller publishing companies based in the UK. The company Puffin currently has 50 staff and have published various well known books over the years. Which include: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Heros of Olympus and The Owl and The Pussy Cat. They are well known for publishing childrens books and have been around for 70 years.
Advertising and Marketing
(Image from: http://mysen.com.my/store/images/PuffinBooks/978140958171.jpg)
Another UK company is Walker Books an independent publisher founded in 1978. There current headquarters is located in London. The most well known book they have published is "Wheres Wally" which made them so famous they could set up a company in America called Candlewick press.
(Image from: http://www.readathon.org/_images/Publishers/150.jpg)
Now lets look at some company names in the other sub sectors:
- Newspapers
The Sun, The Mirror, The Times, The Observer are all examples of national newspapers. The Evening Gazette and The Northern Echo are examples of regional newspapers. National newspapers are normally owned by larger companies, for example "The Sun" is part of the News Corp group which is owned by Rupert Murdoch.
- Comics
DC, Marvel (Owned by Disney) and Image comics are examples of comic publishers. The following works have been produced by DC: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The New 52 and the Justice League. Works by Marvel include: Iron Man, Captain America, Avengers and the Hulk. Last of all, the most famous work published by Image Comics is the Walking Dead series.
(Image from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cf/WalkingDead1.jpg)
To sum up with have the large corporations that own the large publishing companies who often assist smaller companies. We then have the smaller regional companies who are independent/ not part of a network.
The main purpose of Advertising and Marketing is to portray obejcts in a certain way in order to make the product desirable to the general viewer/customer. Which then leads to the increase of purchases/reputation of the companies product. The prime time to display adverts is during the breaks of TV shows, billboards, radio breaks, on the end of bus stops and online.Adverts are all around us, but who actually make them? Lets have a look at some companies in the UK:
- AMVBBDO (Company behind the Snickers adverts which has starred Rowan Atkinson as a Samurai)
- BD (Independent Company - Have worked with big companies such as Coca Cola in the past)
- Iris Worldwide (Company behind the Adidas adverts)
- Saatchi & Saatchi (Company behind HSBC and Visa advertisements - part of a network)
From this list we can see a mix of independent companies and network companies. This is expected as in order to produce work for big clients you would need a big reputation, of which large networks have earned over the years.
Lets look at AMV BBDO in more detail. They are a company that was founded 35 years ago and has been the UK's biggest agency for the last 18 years. They have worked with 92 brands and "have one simple aim with all of them: to help solve their business challenge with creative ideas that change the competitive landscape." They also work with Digital, Print and Broadcast methods when completing work for a client. AMV is part of the BBDO network which is part of the Omnicon Group, which "is a leading global advertising and marketing communications services company." During the years the company has won many awards including, agency of the year across many different years including: 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010.
In the UK there are only 17,000 staff in employment for advertising and marketing. This number looks small for the number of adverts we see daily in our lives. However, this is because other countries spend much more money on advertising.
(Image from : http://www.kenshoo.com/digitalmarketingtechnology/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/regional-digital-ad-spend.png)
From this chart we see that North America is the biggest region in terms of billions spent on digital advertising. With the UK (Part of Europe) being towards the middle of the chart. Which further implies that the UK isn't the biggest region in the advertising industry. This is still after a couple of years and shows no signs of increasing as all the billions spent is increasing at an exponential rate and in correlation with each other. Although, in a rapid environment anything can change.
Overall we see ,from plunkettsearch, that the total advertising spend is $509 billion dollars world wide. Which is a shocking statistics as it proves how hard companies try and drive there products to us and how much influence it has on how we live our lives. Whether we have the latest flat screen TV, or the world fastest cooking microwave, companies will try and sell us anything that they produce or change our opinion on a subject.
(Image from: http://www.superdream.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/montage.jpg)
For more information on advertising/marketing , see the income section of the guide.
Animation
The main purpose of Animation is to create short films/feature films and TV shows. They do this by creating a series of frames that change multipule times in a second. This creates the illusion of movement. There are several types of Animation: 2D, 3D, Claymation and Stop Motion; one of these techniques are often only used in the film. I.E. "Chicken Run" was a claymation film. Some large companies that produce animations are: Blue Sky Studios, Dreamwork's, Paramount, Pixar and Nickelodeon Animation Studios. If we look at Pixar as an example they have produced over 15 feature length films, of which has spun a series of short films to go along side them. The first film released by Pixar was Toy Story which revolved around a small child's (Andy) toys coming to life and having their own adventures. Because of the success of the trilogy shorts such as Hawaiian Vacation were created alongside a series of Buzz Lightyear straight to DVD films.
(Image from: https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/14-toy-story-facts-probably-didn-t-know-232900627.html)
(Image from: http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/33-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-the-toy)
Some fun facts about Toy Story (from) are: "In their most productive week, Pixar only got 3.5 minutes of animation done." , the orignal film was supposed to be called "You are a toy" and"Buzz Lightyears original name was Lunar Larry". This is a prime example of computer animated/3D animation.
Moving onto to some smaller animation companies (compared the large blockbuster animation companies) with an prime example being Aardamn Studios. This is UK based company based in Bristol and are famous for producing the famous film series"Wallace and Gromit" which uses the Clay Animation techniques. This is classed as small company as it only entered the film market in 2006, with the film "Flushed Away". They are a private company and have done work for companies such as the BBC and ITV. Some works on ITV have been the tv show "Creature Comforts" which used human voices to talking animals. The first Wallace was released in 1990 and paved a way for future animations.
(Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Grand_Day_Out#mediaviewer/File:Wallace_%26_Gromit_in_A_Grand_Day_Out.jpg)
In the UK there are currently 4,700 in the Animation Industry which is the lowest out of all the sectors. This is expected as America dominates the industry with large feature films from Pixar and Dreamwork's and Japan heavily dominates the animation world with anime, a well known style of Japanese Animation. With well known Animes such as Pokemon being produced by the company OLM inc, which still produce a variety of anime content currently.
(Image from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif602S-9Lj9EsSyXRG-w5l3feXgKUFDOl3IIXPOlETU5KBCWJIrd4MeXMIaKj7bKL7TZoifXeZdAz2vjkbQjDyqr4LTlJTCkocRQkseOCN6-eOyl1eM9RiMOMlz9XovjOR93Y29apbSSNa/s1600/pokemon2.jpg)
So to sum up with have the large animation companies in big countries and the smaller animation companies in the smaller countries.
Interactive Media
Interactive media is any product that the user can interactive with and customize it to create entertainment for the users liking. Examples of interactive media can consist of mobile apps, ipads and any social media website. The following features are normally found on interactive media projects: Audio, Images,Video,Games,Text and Flash products. Some common products of interactive media are web sites, multimedia CD roms, Fully-Interactive Tv shows, Interactive content for phones, tablets and DVDS.
(Image From:http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs51/i/2009/266/1/6/DVD_Menu_4_Slumdog_03_by_Effect_Design.jpg)
Using the DVD menu as an example, music/video plays in the background whist the user can control where he navigates and can select what he wants. Sometimes within DVDs are interactive games where the user will use the remote to control the game.
Some well known companies that do this are Myriad Interactive Media which is based in Canada and has just signed a deal with Dr Reiner Knizia (He has created several games that have reached top 100 in; with his best selling game being lord of the rings). They hope to create a game which is similar to Candy Crush, but steps it up a level. Myriad themselves as an company is "an interactive marketing and development firm based in Toronto, Canada. Myriad designs and develops customized marketing plans, social media marketing campaigns, pay per click, and search engine marketing, corporate websites, enterprise applications and other custom web development.This is a global company so it is an example of a large company within the industry.
(Image from: http://www.getfilings.com/sec-filings/140219/Myriad-Interactive-Media-Inc_10-Q/f10qmyriadineractive12311002.gif)
I would look at facebook in some detail, however this is more suited towards social media. Although there are elements to interactive media featured within. Another interactive media company is AIME which stands for Association for Interactive Media and Entertainment. A large company known for interactive media is the Disney Interactive Media group, who manage several websites such as: Kaboose.com, Babyzone, ,AmazingMoms.com,Funschool.com and Zeeks.com. There are also a large number of free lance/ independent companies working within the UK. Currently in the UK, there are currently 50,000 people working in the Interactive Media industry. However, they link within other sectors of creative media. For example a games company might produce an app, the interactive media team will then made it accessible and easy for the audiences to use. This may be done in house of large companies that own firms within TV and Film to make it easy for them to produce, rather than paying someone external to do it.
(Image from: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01640/p_bbc-iplayer_1640427c.jpg)
There is term used with the industry know as Media Convergence which relates to interactive magazines for Ipads and other tablets. Which combines print, TV , Radio and the internet along with portable technologies (For example BBC Iplayer). This is prime example of how apps link to interactive media. Which could explain the large number of people in employment in the UK. This number is likely to go up as more of us are using modern day technology due to increase in population/ ease of use. However, like it has before new tech is around to corner everyday which could lead to a rapid increase/decrease in the jobs market of media.
Some websites such as Mentor Digital, provideo some user services online that use interactive media. A main example from this website is the app "English Heritage: Time Travellers" That allows you to place various amounts of apparel onto different characters through different places in England. This means the experience is fully in the hand of the user and not the creator, which makes it a really good example of interactive media.
(Image from:http://www.mentordigital.co.uk/case-studies/interactive-media/)
The company"delivers a market leading range of services including project leadership, web design & development, usability & user experience (UX) testing, and software development. - See more at: http://www.mentordigital.co.uk/#sthash.6PC8Q3cW.dpuf". They are based in the Bristol and London and have clients such as: The NHS, RTPI, Tenpin, Digital Vision, Wincanton and SITA trust.
Although it is hard to find specific examples of companies (As they may have a division with large companies) the industry is structured by the large global companies which have world wide clients. To smaller national companies who own lots of head quarters throughout a nation. To the smaller local companies who produce content for one off clients.
Games
The main purpose of the games industry is to create a virtual environment/scenario for the user to create and experience their own adventures for entertainment, Whether it be the latest AAA game (high budget game) or a indie game (small independent groups) the industry contains to provide quality entertainment.
(Image from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKMzkI9DQ_KiD-VKHfPh0pGxFWG1r_2hE6EFaUMh0akrOHmA-Ch26k0OLycmbYEeivjky2iRrQ54Q0wzImmoRENjDzVUzmJGR0YX_1k4_xGu3LpU815rLekyBcqD4qpC0m-aRSGZ2NrMo/s1600/vidoe3.jpg)
Not only do we learn from the image that the main sales of computer games are within Consoles but that Mario is the most successful franchise in the the world. We also learn that most of the leading sales games come from big developers and not so much the independent game makers. With the addition of the latest consoles, came a great wave of AAA games being developed and remade. After selling millions of copies and becoming popular on previous platforms games like GTA, Halo and The Last Of Us are all getting exported to next gen formats for those who want an updated game. With GTA almost making 2 billion dollars in sales. Some of the main companies behind AAA games are Rockstar (GTA + Red Dead Redemption), Rocksteady (Arkham Asylum Franchise) and Treyarch/Sledgehammer games (Call of Duty)
(Image from: http://static.leonardo.it/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2014/02/rocksteady_logo.jpg)
Moving onto the other side of the spectrum we see Indie games, which cost less to make and are often less popular. However, this will be down to the fact that indie games lack the funds to make AAA games, with the UK being one of the most country's to have so many indie developers.Although, we will pick up on funds later in the chapter. Some examples of indie studios/games are: World of Goo (2D boy) , the original minecraft (Mojang) and Braid developed by Number None and Hothead games. Which all start with a small idea that could be manipulated into addictive games.
(Image from:http://appcrushers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/World-of-Goo-2.jpg)
Not only do we have indie games and AAA games that span over consoles and PC's we also have mobile games, also known as apps. With the introduction of Apple/Smart Phones the industry for small mobile games has rocketed.
(Image from: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/7/16/1373964136927/kakao-games.jpg)
Using the example of Kakao games we see that as the years have went on the profits have sensationally grown in huge amounts. It is also interesting that this occurs yearly and hints at how the mobile games industry is rapidly growing.Another example of a mobile game company that has rocketed in funds in Rovio which made the hit game, "Angry Birds"
(Image from: http://static.leonardo.it/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2014/02/rocksteady_logo.jpg)
So for a game that is so basic in design (Knock over a building by launching different skilled birds into them), has caused a massive affect on society. An a massive profit to the company of Rovio. So no matter what budget a game has if its easy and addictive to play anyone can play it. With so many companies it is also possible to have game types that all users can enjoy. For more facts about angry birds see this video from Achievement Hunter:
In the UK there are roughly 10,000 staff working in the games industry. But with the increase of games being developed there is no tell of how the industry might change in the next couple of years , it could change dramatically at any point. The number is likely to be different around the world as there are companies based in various locations. With big companies such as Ubisoft Montreal being based in Paris or Rockstar which is based in New York. There are also lots of indie games companies in the UK, such as Games Faction in Sheffield and Mutant Labs in Plymonth, For a full list of Indie games companies in the UK check out the link here:http://britishindie.com/developers/
So to some up, the structure of gaming consists of AAA games, Indie games and Mobile games each with their own perks.
Photo Imaging
Not only is photo imaging taking the actual photo, it also contains manipulating the image for a specific brief. For example an independent professional photographer could be assigned for a wedding. Of which he will take the photo, then later on he will enhance the quality in software such as Photoshop to add effects and make the image look more pleasing. Tools in Photoshop such as the airbrush or healing tool have created jobs that normally wouldn't exist and are often associated with celebrity photographs.
(Image from: http://bestdesignoptions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/airbrush-photoshop-2.jpg)
Using this image as an example, we can see a natural face on the left with all the features standing out. However, after the effects of photoshop on the right any unwanted features are removed and are cleaned up. Which gives the image on the right a more"healthy" and beautiful image.
Photo imaging also has many links with other media sectors, including: Publishing, Advertising, TV, Film and Interactive Media. For instance a freelance photoimager/photographer might take a photo and sell it to a publishing company to earn some money. This is well known for journalism and the role is also known as paparazzi. A well known figure for doing this is Peter Parker ( A fictional character from the Marvel universe) who would snap photos of Spider man and sell them to the Daily Bugle. Companies could also be hired for Film and TV to take promotional photos which will then be used in advertising. This is not the only sector in which there are multiple crossovers.
(Image from: http://nukethefridge.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Daily-Bugle-Title.jpg)
Here is an FICTIONAL example of how digital imaging can be used in other sectors.
Some photoimaging companies in the UK are: Peak imaging which quotes "Wedding Photographers, Commercial Photographers and Amateurs alike choose Peak Imaging for their film processing, professional process and print packages and online digital printing". Another company is C41s which provide photographic services for professional photographer; and last of all is company in London named ttpphotoimaging which creates "quality high resolution images that complement our clients style and branding together our artistic input". With most of these companies being independent, it shows how an industry doesn't need a big company to work under in order to be successful. All of which are private companies.
In schools/colleges many places may have their own photo imaging department to promote the school. For instance Middlesbrough College has an area called the "media mill" which produces posters/leaflets and all sorts of digital graphic which will have a link to photo imaging at some-point in the process.
(Image from:http://www.mbro.ac.uk/Home/Images/Rotating_Slides/enrolmentdates2014b.jpg)
Using this poster as an example, the image of the girl on the right may have been touched up and enhanced before being placed on the poster. The enhancements could consist of making the photo brighter and removing any unwanted features.
In schools/colleges many places may have their own photo imaging department to promote the school. For instance Middlesbrough College has an area called the "media mill" which produces posters/leaflets and all sorts of digital graphic which will have a link to photo imaging at some-point in the process.
Using this poster as an example, the image of the girl on the right may have been touched up and enhanced before being placed on the poster. The enhancements could consist of making the photo brighter and removing any unwanted features.
(Image from: http://www.doctorsphotoroom.com/images/mw_prodimage2.jpg)
Here is an example of a photo being manipulated and improved by using in house tools in photo imaging software. This image also makes it clear that it takes skill and time to enhance an image to professional standards. Some of the most popular editing software consists of, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Gimp and Paint.net. For a full list of other software check out the link here.
(Image from: http://img.creativemark.co.uk/uploads/images/324/14324/img3File.png)
Here is an screenshot Photoshop up and running. From the image you can see the series of tools available and how they can be used to enhance original photos. One of the tools used in the industry is on show on the right hand side. Which is the color picker tool and can select a variety of colors to be used in a piece of work.
From my findings, it is clear that there aren't that many big companies in the UK but instead are lots of local companies that down their own independent work for costumers. Another shocking fact is that in the UK there are roughly 44,000 staff in employment in this industry. Which is lager than the Film and Radio industries. Although this could change if a big brand is introduced which could cause smaller companies to be bought out causing a domino affect. Although anything can happen,
Change In Industry
From each sector we learnt a rough estimate of how many people are employed in each industry. Although in a fast moving industry such as media these numbers can change all the time. For example if a new studio was set up in America and it is better that an existing on in the UK; production crews may switch to the brand new studio.Lowering the number employed in the UK's media. The same could be said for games, if a large company owns a division in the UK and is not doing very well the large company could shut down production causing lots of staff to be unemployed.
According to the government the media industry has "grown almost 10% in 2012 out performing other sectors of work"and consists of "5,6% of jobs in the uk". As we found of repeatedly, the industry maybe rapidly grown and rapidly decline with so many variables to account for,
Ownership
From the first part of this chapter we have had a look at all of the 8 sectors and briefly touched upon some of the companies that produce the content, but who actually owns them, what are the sources of income and what are the different types of ownership?
Sources of Income
There are many ways in which the media sectors make money, this can include: Advertising, Sponsorship, Product placement, BBC licence fee, Television subscriptions, Premium telephone lines, Downloads, Cinema box office, Games - CD's and DVD's, DVD rental, Franchises/formats and Merchandise. For instance, from the list film industry would make income from downloads, cinema box office, merchandise and DVD's.
(Image from: http://cdn.arstechnica.net/2009/12/01/dvd_sales.png)
As we can from the graph dvds continue to sell in their millions with a general increase of sales per year. If each DVD costs £10 then in 2007 10.84 million pounds was earned by selling DVD's.
The BBC licence fee is only unique to the UK, TV.Radio and Publishing industry, This is because the BBC is a public company and is funded by the public. This pays for the right to view/listen to content created by the BBC. The current cost for a color licence is £145.50 and is covered for one year. This cost must be paid, even if you don't watch the TV all the time. So if everyone in the UK pays the fee it would roughly make an income of (53.9 million * 145.50) 7842 million a year. Which is a huge amount although the cost will be split between staff, production costs, equipment and any other bills such as websites.
Otherwise the TV industry earns money by Downloads, Product Placement, TV subscriptions and Franchise/Formats.
*
(Image From:http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Media/Pix/pictures/2011/6/17/1308334249547/This-Morning-product-plac-007.jpg)
If you see the small P on the screen during a TV show it states that somewhere in the program there is a product being advertised. This is a legal requirement as it has influence over the user and what they buy. This is the alternate to Adverts as a news story by the Guardian states : "According to research, 90% of households with digital recording use it to skip ads." So in order to make money from advertising the industry places the product in well known TV shows instead of the breaks with is more common.
This famous scene from "Breaking Bad" shows Walter White purchasing a Coke, although its only a minor placement it still has influences over the viewer and makes them think physiologically to buy a coke.
If the TV show is of the reality genre, production companies often add in vote in lines for the audience to vote for their favourite contestant. The cost is usually no more than £1 per vote and is often on every episode. So if 15000 people voted the company would make £15,000.
Some companies may also sponsor a programme by supporting them financially or with equipment as long as they get a mention in the TV show or at the end credits. This makes the sponsoring company more recognition and makes money for the TV show.
Famous characters and quotes from shows often get turned into merchandise, such as action figures and T-Shirts. Take Doctor Who for example. for every episode a new monster is released/redesigned which makes the opportunity to make a toy for children to play with. Or produce a shirt designed around the quote which allows the user to show their support for the show.
(Image from : http://www.doctorwhotoys.net/drwhofigures4%20copy.jpg)
Some TV shows that are really popular can often sell the format to remake the programme to fit the culture in other countries. A recent British show to get an American remake is the IT crowd. Although this does not always work as some cultures are only adjusted to certain styles of show,
TV shows can also be downloaded straight after an episode has aired, this makes it more appealing to the viewers as they don't have to wait until the DVD comes out. Many services such as Amazon, Itunes and hulu. Itunes latest, most downloaded TV show is:
Black Widower
Sons of Anarchy
For a full list of most downloaded TV shows on Itunes see the link here.
The cinema box office, is the income of all the tickets sold in a cinema .So if a film is a sell out then it is known as a "good" box office, and vice versa if its a poor film. This can be one of the main sources of income before DVD's as you can only LEGALLY see new films in the cinema. Currently in the UK the top film at the box office is, Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar". Which has took in an average of £5 million in the UK release.
(Image from: http://www.behindwoods.com/english-movies/interstellar/images/interstellar-photos-pictures-stills.jpg)
Last of all the TV industry makes money by having subscription lines, some of the most popular in the UK are: Sky, Virgin and BT. With a basic subscription to Sky you get all the basic channels with some free gifts (LG Soundbar and Subwoofer) for £21.50 a month.
Public Ownership
Public ownership is where a company is owned by the public state and is created to make entertainment rather than profit. The best example of this, is the UK's BBC. The BBC receives funds from a TV licence fee. The fee applies to any one in the UK who owns a TV, whether they use it or not. If a user watches TV live/records it on any of the following devices: mobile phone, tablet , computers, games consoles and digital boxes they also need a TV licence. However, if you watch it on catch up you do not need to purchase a license.
(Image from: http://images.moneysavingexpert.com/images/tv-licence-chart.gif)
The current cost for the license fee has been frozen since April the 1st. With a color license costing £145.50 and a black and white licence costing £49.00.
(Screenshot from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/insidethebbc/whoweare/licencefee/)
Between 2013-2014 the cost of the licence fee was around 40p a day. TV received 66% of total costs (2,276m) which is an estimate of around £8 a month per household. £2.30 MPH went to radio, totaling a 19% of costs. Online only received £0.61 MPH costs and had only 5% of the total costs. Other services received £1.82 a MPH with 10% of costs.
(Image from: http://images.moneysavingexpert.com/images/tv-licence-chart.gif)
Add these fee's up and this is the average spend per year. From which we can see that the largest proportion of funds goes towards TV. The channels currently owned/ran by the BBC are:
(Image from: http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/images/iplayerfreesat02.jpg)
If you have certain medical conditions/ are elderly you can have reduced fees or may not have to pay for a license. If you are 75 and over you will receive a free license. With money being refunded if you accidentally pay. If you are blind or have sight impairments you will be eligible for a discounted license fee providing you provide evidence. Following these circumstances a color license will cost £72.25 and a black and white license costing £24.50.
You must pay the full fee if you are a normal citizen. If you fail to do so there are several actions taken by the government. The checks taken by the government consist of checking the national database, sending enforcement officers to physically check your home for TV's (often done if you state you don't need a license) and using detector vans that can pick up the signal of TV receiving equipment. If you are caught without a license you can be prosecuted fined up to £1,000 and could face a court case/jail. An article in the Guardian "Almost 200,000 people were prosecuted last year for failing to buy a television licence." Which is a waste of the courts time and highlights a huge flaw in the way public ownership works.
(Image from: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/06/04/article-1394346-052C742D000005DC-626_468x286.jpg)
There are many disadvantages to public companies (using the BBC as an example): as we have seen people can refuse to pay the fee which means the company then lacks funds and the courts time is wasted. The criteria states if you a own a TV and there is only one fee. However, a rich person might owned 20 TV's in his home and will pay the same amount if an average household only had 1 TV. There is also more elderly people as the years go on , so more people are getting the license for free. In a debate against the fee, Jonathon Miller states " You cannot watch New Delhi TV news without paying the BBC. It's as if you had to subscribe to the Guardian to be allowed to read The Telegraph. "
Which reveals that in order to watch certain content produced by people outside the BBC you will still have to pay the fine, which some people may disagree with. The BBC then have to spend more money on tracking down the "criminals" who don't pay by sending out vans and officers. The cost of living has also increased over the years, yet the cost of the license fee has stayed the same. This makes it harder for the poorer families to enjoy the service.
(Image from: http://www.rtba.co/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/hk-93-machine-gun-vs-lots-of-tvs-right-to-bear-arms-blog4.jpg)
Although there are the negatives of public ownership, there can be advantages: Any money earned goes straight back into the company production office and not to the heads of the company. The BBC also listen to what the public have to say about shows, after all they are paying for it. The service is also suited to the country's culture so all the content is relate able. There are no adverts as the main source of income is through the fee. This means the viewer can watch a program all the way through without getting interrupted. There are also a variety of content as there must be something for everybody or even more people would refuse to pay.
So to sum up public ownership is owned by the state and not a larger private company. All income to produce programs comes from the public and the content is aimed to the public. However, the fee has its own problems.
Private Ownership
Private ownership is the opposite of public ownership. The main goal of private companies is to make profits by the products they create. With their main source of income coming from adverts. This means that private companies do not get funded money by the state so they have to earn it themselves. These companies are also likely to be in conglomerates with the profits going to the big brand. An example of a private company in the UK is the guardian newspaper company. According to londoncalling they were the highest profitable media group in the UK which an average of £306M.
(Image from: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Media/Pix/pictures/2013/9/16/1379327769622/The-Guardian-008.jpg)
This style of ownership can have its own advantages compared to public ownership. Because the largest source of income is adverts, popular TV's shows will raise the costs to advertise. The advertisers will still pay the amount due to the high levels of popularity. This money will then be used to fund more shows keeping the channel fresh and up to date. Private companies can also specialize in certain genres of TV shows/channels for example GoodFood focuses on cookery programs and the adverts will be related to this type of genre. Another example is Sky Disney, which would only focus on showing animated childrens film. This would mean there would be no adverts relating to high action/gory films and would stick to the target audience of U-PG (0-10). Compared to the BBC which has to show a variety of shows on one channel, as they are not as well financed as private companies. So the BBC listen to what shows the public want. Private companies also have the power to try new things as they have the money to do so. Although this is a risk and will not always have beneficial effects. Furthermore because they have bigger companies to support them, this doesn't usually knock the company back.
(Image from: http://theident.gallery/skymovies/2011/SKYM-2013-ID-DISNEY-1-6.jpg)
However, unlike public companies; private companies spend less time on research for what their audiences want. So if a large companies invests their money in a new format/tv show just because they liked the idea, the TV show could be a failure and not bring in any revenue. Another disadvantage is that if companies advertise too much in their programs/films it can upset fans and ruined parts of the series. This is a prime example in the movie "Skyfall" where Bond is depict drinking a Heineken instead of a Martini that is shaken not stirred.
(Image from: http://blog.mysquawkbox.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/bond.jpg)
Another perfect example of how advertising has influences over the audience watching the various means of media. Similar events such as companies reducing the quality of the TV show and producing more episodes because of its success can also upset fans. Leading them to believe that they are only producing the show for the money. The money earned by the success of a show is split differently depending on the income of the episode. With most of the money going to the people in charge and the rest going to employee/production costs. Last of all, if a show is no longer a hit and starts to drop in ratings the show will be cancelled; sometimes during production of a current series. A example of this is the TV show "Revolution " which started as a big hit but lost fans/ratings in season 2 so was cancelled by NBC. The first season ended with 6.17 million viewers, which is much smaller than most hit TV shows. But further dropped to 4.13 million viewers at the end of season 2. Which was the cause of the cancellation. For a full list of TV shows cancelled in 2013-2014 click the link.
(Image from: http://roylyfernando.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/revolution-tv-series.jpeg)
To sum up: Private companies earn most of their income based on advertising within/before the show ;with the rest coming from the success of the episode. Private companies can try new formats and focus on specific TV genres. However, advertising too much can have negative effects on the audience and shows can suddenly cut off if ratings drop.
Conglomerates
The word conglomerate derives from the Latin word, conglomeratus. Con meaning 'together' and almous meaning 'ball' creates the phrase ball together. Similar to how snow men are made in the winter, starting of with a small clump of snow that is rolled around to make a ball; hence ' Ball together'. Although, in Media the actual definition is: a company that owns a large number of companies in various mass media such as TV, radio, publishing and movies. Think of it as large cross media company/ the big fish eats the little fish type scenario. With the conglomerate often doing the buying out/ take overs.
(Image from: http://enterpriseapp.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/big-fish-eating-small.jpg)
In an article by the business insider one key fact is "6 Corporations Control 90% Of The Media In America" , "That's consolidated from 50 companies back in 1983." Which highlights the huge competition within the media industry. As only 6/50 companies still thrive today that's only 12% of business's. It seems so unbelievable that out of 90% of media around us, there are only 6 companies behind it. The giant companies behind the "Big 6" are: Disney, General Electric (GE), News Corp, Time Warner, Viacom and CBS.
(Image from: http://occupiedtucsoncitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/mediaconsolidation_1.jpg)
(Image from: http://occupiedtucsoncitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/mediaconsolidation_1.jpg)
The total profit of the 6 companies is an out of this world number and continues to surprise me to this very moment.
Before writing this guide, I was not aware of the sheer control the companies have over us and I'm probably not the only one. In a report from theeconomiccollapseblog, they state.. "The average American watches 153 hours of television a month." Which is roughly around 5 hours a day. Which is roughly 5 hours a day.So apply the 90% statistic to the monthly number and around 138 hour of the TV you watch is produced by one of the big 6.
Lets now look at one of the Big 6, Time Warner, in more detail; using this graphic made by myself:
From the tree we can see that the companies owned by Time Warner consist of: HBO, Warner Brothers, AOL and Turner. Although, in 2014 AOL is no longer part of the conglomerate as they went independent in 2009. This is also seen in Warner Bros who started of independent for 44 years and then joined the conglomerate, but then left again in 2001-2003. This illuminates the sparse change a conglomerate can have, but there will always be other companies that build it up. Another shocking we take from this graphic is the sheer range of content produced by the same company. Who would of thought that the same company that made Scooby Doo is the same one that makes Game of Thrones?
(Image from: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/532409987168974637/)
Overall the conglomerate as a whole is currently worth $45 Billion pounds but will continue to change everyday after a new media product is created by themselves. If AOL was still in the conglomerate today they would be close to sharing the same net worth as Warner Brothers and maybe even HBO as they were worth $600 million in 2010. But after a spark of hit TV shows (True Detective and Game of Thrones) the worth is predicted to be even higher.
Although the big 6 didn't just come out of no where and some big deals were made when buying out companies. In early 1999 Viacom offered to buy out CBS for around $37 billion dollars, this lead to a merge in 2000 and brought cable channels of TNN and County Music into the conglomerate. However, they split up in the future to make their own conglomerates.
(Image from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/440000/images/_440894_viacom2_cbs300.jpg)
Shortly after this deal was the biggest merger in history with a sum close to $165 billion dollars. The merge was between the two companies AOL and Time-Warner which came together to make AOL Time Warner.
There was also a failed attempt by Comcast who tried to buy out Disney for $66 billion. The deal was never made.
Although conglomerates can be good for business they do have there own flaws. Such as having too much power of politics on the audience as they only get to here from 6 viewpoints and not a wide variety of opinions.
(Image from: http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6?IR=T)
This is commonly seen as the fact that large newspaper companies dominate the news we read. For example if the Sun was in favor of the conservative party they would publish more stories about the good the conservative party does and would expose weakness's in other political parties. For example:
(Image from: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-
images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/9/29/1254264043826/The-Sun-front-pages-compo-001.jpg)
Which shows a prime political influence over the audience and could lead the Sun readers which is the most read according to NRS:
(Image from: http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/nrs-figures-say-sun-most-read-uk-newspaper-print-and-online)
Conglomerates can also often comprise peoples ethnics and integrity/honesty in order to make money. Because there are only 6 larger companies there are no government control and can publish whatever they like. It also makes it harder for smaller companies to make a business removing the competition between companies other than the conglomerates. The companies within the conglomerate could also be forgotten about and only see the big company as the producer. For example a company might think of Disney more than Marvel for the latest Avengers films.
Although there can be lots of advantages that comes with a conglomerate. The competition between the big 6 often leads to lower prices for consumers so they get products cheaper. I.E a war between the Sun and The Daily Mail, the sun may charge only 60p for there paper when the Daily Mail creating healthy competition between the two. There is also a wide variety of content produced as they all own their own separate companies which produce different styles of programs and content. For instance Warner Brothers focus on making films and HBO make TV shows, as these are both owned by Time Warner they offer lots of different sectors of media to one overall company. The conglomerates also don't need to hire external companies to do their promotions as they can host cross media promotions. I.E , News Corp papers can advertise shows and movies made by Fox without getting a different company outside the conglomerate to do so. The fact that the Conglomerates have more money means higher budget productions, so without your conglomerates there wouldn't be as many blockbuster films.
(Image from: http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/18948_the_dark_knight28.jpg)
"The Dark Knight" was a Warner Brothers production and had a budget of $185 million which is nothing really considering the $4 billion net worth.
Fun Facts: Cable makes the most money for the conglomerate Disney. Miramax (Sold in 2010) and Pixar are/were companies in the Disney conglomerate. Sky is not a conglomerate as it is a part of News Corp. Some UK companies owned by News Corp are: The Sun, The Times, bSkyb and ITV.
To sum up: Conglomerates are several large and small corporations that "ball together" to make one big network. There are 6 six companies that make up 90% of the media we watch and that there is lots of pros and cons to a conglomerate style media ownership.
Independents
Unlike conglomerates independents are companies that are not owned by other companies and stand by themselves for funding. These companies are generally privately owned and are not owned by the public state. As we have saw throughout the guide every sector has independent companies this can be beneficial and inadequate. As an independent company it can be hard to maintain funds, if a project isn't very successful and doesn't return a profit the company will lose money. Because there are no big companies to help them out, the company may have to go out of business.This then has a knock on effect on employment and can make job stability inefficient. There good points such as there are no restrictions when creating projects as the small company will be able to produce anything they like. Although the company could have a lack of reputation and will make it hard from them to gain any profit. Although over the years it seems the salary has increased for independent companies for example:
Image from:http://www.indeed.com/salary/trends?nq=1&tm=0&q0=Wordpress+Front+End+Developer+At+Independent+Media+Company)
From this media company we can see at a media company there is a sudden change in salary index and hints that there is a growth for independent companies. Although this cannot be set as a full pattern as it is only based on one graph. Some more advantages of independent companies are although the company does not start of with a reputation; if there product is successful they could find their own niche in the market. Making the company stand out and make a profit. This is how the big conglomerates gained there status today, they started off small and produced products that were unique and made them famous. They then continue to make the famous products and expand thier business to new ideas. Small companys can also have thier own strucutre and way of doing this which will be efficent to the company. As a large buisness can be hard to control.
For examples of independent media companies see the Structure section of the guide. Within each sector there is examples of independent companies.
Cross Media Ownership
Cross media ownership is where an organisation owns more than one media sector; for example the company could own a TV company and a Radio production company. A prime example of this is the company News Corp (owned by Rupert Murdoch).
(Image from: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/sites/tcdailyplanet.net/files/imagecache/HugeColorbox/12/09/6a00d834516a0869e2017d3e9bfac1970c-800wi.jpg)
As we can see from the Image, not only does News Corp own several newspaper companies, they also own a publishing company, film company, radio company and a TV company. Having multiple platforms of media can be an advantage. Not only does it make the company more profitable, it makes the business larger and stronger with the several connections which increases security for the company.I.E if one of the companies fails there is lots of support from the others. For example the Daily Telegraph might right an article advertising the other companies within News Corp, which means its cheaper and more efficient for the overall company, this is known as synergy. It also makes it easier for equipment as combined there will be a large pool of resources between them.
(Image from: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/5/2/1399054457183/News-Corp-purchase-Harleq-012.jpg)
However, because the company is so big, they have a big influence on the audience by acting as a "mouth piece" for the government, which can have devastating effects. This can have negative effects as the viewers/listeners are being bombarded with one view point, and since media is huge around the world, companies can be in total control. Another disadvantage is that there are large amounts of databases with personal information, which if it gets into the wrong hands can be dangerous. The smaller companies can also get forgotten as they see the whole of the brand and not the individual companies which means they lose their status in the industry.
.jpg)
(Image from:http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/images/item/Fox_Hacks2.jpg)
Using this table we can also see that these large Companies chose what to publish. For example when the company is at fault they chose to ignore the scandal and completely avoids any mention of faults until a couple of days afterwards.
However, all of this would be possible without the owner Rupert Murdoch.Who still works at the age of 83. Who has owned a series of assets over the years and built up his industry by working with smaller companies when he was younger, he bought out the Sunday Times (Perth) in 1956 and turned it was quoted by the economist as "inventing the modern tabloid". To date he is one of the most powerful, rich and influential people of all time.
(Image from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPpGcyiprNgLLWwdTIEqfO_0Mz2bHWJE2mKb37eovbGnfWvZm9Tt2GFxV5vbaVG7437x97KQ4XY-KcvPf_k1xV-u_quB-c6qE08n8CXFrlFUg_88_4XvsxWAAoLKiyh8NHW8-qCAFWYbVT/s400/Ruport-Murdoch-and-BSkyB--001.jpg)
Although the statistics are hard to read we can see that several of Murdoch's companies are heavily based in the USA, Australia and the UK. We can also see that as the years go on there are more and more subscribers and the revenue continues to grow. To get some more clearer facts check out the graph below.
(Image from: http://infographiclist.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/onlinemarketingtrendsthemurdochempirerevenueinfographic_4e605d90c6117.jpg)
Some quick fire facts about Rupert Murdoch is that he start with one newspaper in Adelaide, he is the News Corporation Chairman and CEO, he has over 800 companies across 50 countries and in March 2011 he was worth $7.6 million pounds.
We can see that overall the whole companies is where roughly £32 billion dollars and because its a private company as large amount will go to Rupert Murdoch. With their biggest successes being there film companies and cable providers. This number is probably is much bigger at this moment in time as this graph is from 2010. So to sum up with section we see that the cross media companies own a variety of different media sectors, which comes with its own advantages/disadvantages.
Mergers
A A merger is where two companies combine to make a single company. This could be because both companies are lacking funds, so in order to stay in business they merge to make a stronger business. Famous mergers consist of Comcast and Time Warner, which happened for $45 billion dollars. Another example is when Disney combined with Pixar, this had a positive response with an article from the BBC stating ""The addition of Pixar significantly enhances Disney animation, which is a critical creative engine for driving growth across our businesses."
(Image from: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/8119Hj0XnCL._SL1500_.jpg)
A Although mergers can be a bad thing. If two companies are combining due to money loses, their will be some job losses in order to save money. Also if the two companies use to make separate and different content their might be less choice in what you receive as a costumer. Also whilst the companies are recovering the prices of merchandise/objects will be expensive and may be harder to recover. The new company may also be hard to control as the company is much larger than before. But its not all bad news, there is also some advantages to mergers.
N Now that two companies have become one it now has more resources and support on hand to create new products, this then has a knock on positive effect on efficiency. This then helps the companies increase in their growth and make money. The companies will also learn from their mistakes after being independent and will stop errors from being replicated.
Takeovers
Takeovers are different to mergers. A takeover occurs when one company takes control of another company usually by purchasing it. This process is also known as acquisition. This process normally occurs when some company owners don't want the responsibility of a small company producing a large franchise, making it quickly get out of hand. This was the main reason the company Mojang (With owner being Markus Pearson) sold their rights to Microsoft.Putting the game "mine-craft" in risk. In a report by the BBC. Notch states "I've become a symbol. I don't want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don't understand, that I don't want to work on, that keeps coming back to me. I'm not an entrepreneur. I'm not a CEO."
(Image from:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29204518)
With situations like this is can create lots of disadvantages, such as the products the company sells changing and no longer being supported. This raised many concerns such as "It would kill the gaming community," EvilBatsu added. However both companies have confirmed that mine-craft will contain to be made by the same people and expanded in the same way in the future. More disadvantages of takeovers are: It becomes more risky in what the company does, as they have gained a new right which is known for producing certain content. So when a larger company attempts to replicate the product things could go wrong and annoy the customers. Some staff maybe laid off when they are no longer required because some else can do a better job. Staff may also need to relocate to a new office in order to keep there jobs which some people may not be comfortable to do. New staff may also feel out of place in a large company due to the structure and sheer amount of people.
(Image from: http://cdn1.yourstory.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/minecraft.jpg)
Although there are advantages to a take over. The small companies can also feel supported by the change and get assistance from the companies that know what they are doing. There will also be larger resource pool as the equipment from the small company will transfer over. If the smaller company is a specialist in a certain area, the large company may benefit raising profits of the company. For example if the smaller company was excellent at making adverts, the large company will then have an advert department specialist to them. Saving them money and time as its done in house.
Other Key Terms:
- Globalization: The process by which the world is becoming interconnected as a consequence of increased trade and cultural exchange.
- Vertical Integration: When a company expands into areas that are at different points to the production path.
- Horizontal Integration: When a company expands into areas that are similar to the production path.
End of Chapter
