Media and the Economy Findings

IMAGE COURTESY OF RFi GROUP

Our blog, Media and the Economy, is a collaborative space where we explore different parts of media industries and their relationships to both domestic and foreign economies. Through each of our writings and research, we discovered that all of our subtopics were greatly impacted by the continuous evolution of technology. This evolution began to explain themes like media convergence, media globalization, demassification of media, and more which each of us connected to our blog posts and subtopics.

Convergence

Convergence is an overarching theme that has been discussed throughout the subtopics of this blog. Media convergence is the merging of virtually all forms of mass communication including print, television, film, radio, the Internet through various digital media platforms. With the emergence of mobile devices and the Internet, media has a new delivery vehicle of choice. Rather than having to go to the library or movie theater or purchase newspapers, DVDs, books, or magazines, convergence allows users to access all forms of media on their mobile devices through Netflix, Hulu, or Spotify subscriptions. Convergence has positively impacted the economy by reducing production costs, reducing waste, and having users spend less money; however, convergence has also negatively impacted the economy by causing businesses to go under, paying artists less, and hurting legacy industries.

Public Relations

The theme of public relations is seen throughout the sub-topics of our blog posts. Public relations and advertising go hand in hand and allow companies and influential people to market themselves and their products through mass media outlets. The introduction of advertising to mass media has allowed for companies to make serious profit off of their product. Many companies rely on their revenue from advertising, whether it is commercials in the television medium, sponsored content on social media platforms, or advertising columns in the print industry. Public relations and advertising shape public opinion of brands and people which therefore effects that brand or person’s business which effects the economy as a whole.

Demassification

The demassification of media has impacted the way that legacy and new media industries are designed and produced. Demassification is this notion that media is individualized and that is representational of specific cultures, with various services or products. By diversifying mass media, the media markets are able to have regular “subscribers” and advertise specific goods towards their audiences. On the downside, it can create barriers for these industries because they may be localized to a particular region or language. This economic trend, of “catering towards the individual” allows mass media industries to create more content and explore new avenues.

Globalization

Globalization, the increase of international influence throughout the world, has been one of the main factors of the change in relationship between mass media and the economy. K-Pop’s rise in popularity internationally exemplifies this change in the relationship by creating opportunities to earn an income through social media as a global influencer and the use of globally appealing storylines by filmmakers. Mass media mediums can utilize globalization to market to an international audience and economy.

To Conclude

Overall, we, the contributors of Media and the Economy, hope that through each of our subtopics and their connections to overarching themes like technology evolution, media convergence, etc. gave you a deeper understanding of the factors that impact the economies of different mass media industries. The industries of print, music, television, film, and social media are all very different, yet they are all impacted by technology, they all impact one another, and they all attribute to domestic and global economies alike.

 

 

 

Sources:

Media Image

The Book Industry

Television Production

Film Revenue Streams

Streaming Changes the Economy

Commercial’s Role in the Economy

Small Businesses Value Social Media

The Newspaper Industry

Major Motion Picture Companies

Instagram Influencers Influencing

The Economy of Live Music

The Book Industry

Before the days of the printing press, books were transcribed by hand. Books are one of the first forms of mass media. From the author and publisher to the consumer, the process of writing, publishing, distribution, and purchase of books, has existed for centuries. Brand name publishing houses still exist, some of these houses have since been bought by media conglomerates.

Image courtesy of National Geographic Society

The two major types of books are trade books and textbooks. Similar to movies and television, authors will leave subliminal, or hidden messages for their readers. Some individuals only interpret messages in a way that agrees with his or her preexisting beliefs or attitudes, this concept is called selective perception. Many trade books are controversial because they promote an agenda against societal norms. Even with books, the agenda setting theory, telling people not what to think but what to think about, is not only a tool used in news forums, but with the book industry. New books are advertised and promoted. Some of these books are demassified, reaching small, fragmented, or niche audiences, this may be to certain socio-economic classes, races, cultures or religions (Oxford Reference).

Image courtesy of Banned Books Week

Many popular books are labeled as blockbusters, because they have large commercial success. Amazon.com has a top twenty list of blockbuster reads for every season out of the year. The most popular and most printed books are religious texts, like the Holy Bible and Quran (Vivian).

Bookshops are struggling, many, like Borders, have closed down. Amazon.com has completely transformed the market for buying books. Jeff Bezos created Amazon.com in 1994, as a book online sales and mail delivery service. With the introduction of the Kindle, ebooks have become a popular alternative to paper book copies. This increase in ebook readership has surprisingly not left print sales to as Danah Boyd would say, “die out.” Many books today, trade and textbooks, offer print and digitally accessible options. Amazon has not only changed the game for buying books but has features for authors to self-publish. According to Business Insider, Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing has been a solution for authors to receive a larger royalty and more money for ebooks. Digital publishing is much more cost effective than traditional publishing, for all print mediums.

Image Courtesy of Daily Mail

Sources:

Author Earnings Report

Business Insider

The Media of Mass Communications

Oxford Reference

 

Small Businesses Value Social Media

Today, there are roughly 30.2 million small businesses in the United States. The number of small companies makes up 99.9% of America’s businesses corporations (Small Business Administration). Small corporations can set themselves apart from larger ones because of their ability to build and maintain relationships with their customers.

Credibility is Key

Small businesses are both community and individual focused. Social media allows for small companies to connect with their customers online. Small companies are more likely to respond to their customers than large companies (Duct Tape Marketing). Small corporations can build their credibility and gain more respect from current and potential customers by showing they are reliable and care for the concerns of their customers by responding quickly to customers’ comments and questions. Personability is also essential when it comes to small businesses. Similar to what I said before about individual and community focus, small corporations can create a personalized experience for customers through social media through one-on-one interaction. 53% of consumers want to shop at small businesses. This percentage is because of the customer service they receive (AYTM).

Names Matter

Not only does social media build credibility with customers, but brand-recognition is extremely important. Public relations within a company is responsible for keeping up the brand name and image. The likelihood of buying from a brand people follow on social media is 57.5% higher than brands people don’t follow (Sprout Social). This number is often because social media is accessible to almost everyone with access to the internet and is easy to use (Vivian). Millions of people can see a company’s advertisement through Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Companies use buzz advertising to their advantage because word-of-mouth testimonials and promotion are simple ways for a company’s brand to get out to the world. Buzz advertising has to do with the multistep flow model in which media affects individuals through a web of connections. Within the network of connections are interpersonal connections, which means friends talk to friends.

Overall, small businesses use social media to their advantage. Promotion is critical when it comes to the status of a small company. Media relations include continuing contact, good rapport, and credibility (Vivian). By producing ads, remaining loyal to their customers, and promoting themselves online, smaller companies are more likely to be successful than large businesses.

 

Sources:

Small Business Administration

Duct Tape Marketing

AYTM

Sprout Social

The Media of Mass Communication by John Vivian

The Economy of Live Music

Globalization has changed the way we experience music. While streaming changed how we were able to access music on a daily basis, globalization made an international market for live music. Artists can go on world tours- raking in millions of dollars- due to the high demand for sharing of cultures through music across media sources.

While people have argued that globalization is causing the creation of a monoculture, I argue that the music industry proves this wrong. Music has always been an art and form of expression. For example, the United States music industry does have an influence worldwide, but other countries have fought to create their successful industries that are incredibly different than the US music industry. A great example comes from the genre of Korean Pop or K-Pop. An argument for monoculture of music would assume that countries of more significant influence, like the US, would dominate music, and music worldwide would sound just as ours does. However, K-Pop is evidence of a thriving industry with some American influence, but overall a new genre of music to claim as their own.

Because of the drop in revenue from music sales, live performances are the way to make money now. According to the journal, The Economy of Live Music in the Digital Age, it can be attributed to the increase in price of concert tickets. The most successful K-pop tour was Big Bang Made (2014-15), which had 1.5 million concert goers.  According to Forbes, the top three most successful, measure in total gross, world tours have been:

U2- 360 Degree Tour: $736 million
The Rolling Stones- A Bigger Bang Tour: $558 million
Coldplay- A Head Full of Dreams Tour: $523 million

Beyond single world tours, music festivals have taken off in recent years. Digital Music News has numerous reasons why that might be, including the use of social media to create an “in time experience” to share with potential new audiences. The following video provides information on how these live experiences affect economies, particularly the UK’s economy:

Sources:

Fabian Holt- The Economy of Live Music in the Digital Age

 Allkpop.com

Forbes

Digital Music News

 

The Film Industry Driving Economic Growth

Hello readers!

 
This week on my section of the blog we will be exploring the many ways that the film industry benefits the American economy. The film and television production industry create and sustain jobs for millions of Americans while creating a valuable and marketable commodity that appeals to a global audience.

 
As stated by the Motion Picture Association of America, the television and film industry support 2.1 million jobs and pays over $139 billion in wages annually as a private sector employer. The film and television industry also made $49 billion in payments to over 400,000 businesses (87% being small businesses) in 2016.

 

PHOTO COURTESY OF REVENGE OF THE FANS

 

An example of this is the impact of Marvel’s 2018 film, Black Panther, on the state of Georgia’s economy. According to the MPAA, Marvel employed more than 3,100 local workers who took home an upwards of $26.5 million in wages during their time working on the film.

 

Here is a short clip that explains how local businesses benefit from the production industry:

 

 

The Motion Picture Association of America advocates for the support of small businesses and local economies. The MPAA claims that as much as $250,000 can be added to local economies per day when a film shoots on location. When a movie shoots on location it brings jobs, revenue, and infrastructure development that otherwise would not have been possible. Tourism in an area can also be boosted due to popular movies and television shows.

 
I hope you enjoyed this post and have learned more about the ways that the film and television production industry not only benefit local economies but contributes to the U.S. economy as a whole.
Stay tuned for next weeks post!

 

 

Sources:

Motion Picture Association of America

Blockbuster Impact on U.S. Economy

Film Industry Generates More Than $7 Billion For Georgia’s Economy

Black Panther Generates $89.3 Million for Georgia’s Economy

Black Panther

Black Panther Banner

 

Television Trends

On the point of social media becoming more relevant in today’s society, many television networks have a problem with it’s success. As media fragmentation occurs more television companies see themselves losing the battle with social media. They see the rise of social media as a threat to the television industry. But many television are using social media in a way to benefit themselves. As Sean Casey explains in his article on News Center, the television industry is using these media platforms to engage with their audience. This allows the television companies to have interactivity with their audience and economically get their production more views. Casey also states that media users sent more than 800 million TV-related tweets. This creates a considerable amount of publicity for that production. Which in turn makes television companies like the idea of engagement. As Danah Boyd in, It’s Complicated, insists that media outlets “require users to engage critically with the information they’re seeing.”(180) to gain a sense of audiences outlook on the subject of discussion. In the end the television industry is simply getting more attention through the convergence with social media.

Multitasking

The idea of socialization in the television industry is made able with the convergence of social media in the television platform. Socialization has become a key factor for the growth of a television company because it allows the company to gain more views from the networking for the media. As one person communicates about a show, it is then shared across their entire friend network. Giving the show a more publicity and eventually more views which brings in the money for the television network. This is from the ideology of multitasking. Or when one is using social media while watching a television show at the same time. As Jean M. Twenge stats in, iGen, “But more than likely, they are multitasking-texting while web surfing, watching TV while posting to Instagram.” (51) Overall, the television industry is being replaced by social media outlets but many companies are using the media to benefit from its access to the audience.

 

Television Production

As television becomes more profitable, more individual people want to join the industry. Since the production of the television industry almost every mass media outlet has included it as a major part of their company. Whether it’s function is to provide the public with information about current events or for entertainment for the public. Either way the introduction of the television industry has brought in the money. But it has also provided the community with plenty of economic opportunities though out the industry. Even if its from acting, producing, directing, writing or even holding the lights for the scene, television production has introduced many people to economic opportunities. These opportunities are originate from societies diversion in television. The Oxford Index, explains diversion as a basic human need for some form of media.

Don’t we all.

As television becomes more relevant in day to day lives, broadcasting companies became increasingly engulfed by the industry. With the interest of the media outlets, jobs were needed to be filled to be able to produce the television industry. Many of the economic opportunities produced through the television industry are in the entertainment genre of the industry. The entertainment genre of television includes a vast amount of jobs for the public to presume providing economic benefits. Entertainment such as movies and videos create a huge economic surplus because of the amount of jobs they produce and also how they pay because of the influence of television in the american household. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, producers and directors make a mean annual wage of 90,770$.

With the growth of the television industry, the growth of economic opportunities increases as well. Thats because many television companies are taking their revenues and investing back into the production of television. The New York Times insists that companies like Netflix are spending money to produce more content to build the industry through subscriptions. This presents artists or producers a great amount of economic opportunity as a great deal of titles are released through Netflix through out the entire year. Overall, the television production industry has substantially increased while also providing anyone the opportunity to rake in the benefits.

The Magazine Industry

Buying any magazines these days? Today, I only pick up a magazine, while I am sitting in the waiting room of a hair salon or doctor’s office.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BBC

Consumer Magazines focus on particular interests, or they can be a source of weekly news for some consumers. As a result, they have specialized audiences. This concept is also known as demassification. With the aid of new, or digitalized, media, “audiences have become more fragmented” (Vivian). The primary audience are the subscribers or single copy buyers, and the pass-along audience are the people who may read an issue at a hair salon or dentist’s office. The themes found in magazines are also different, there are digests, pictorials, and news magazines that produce group journalism work.

The Magazine industry has produced innovative content, three of the major creations are:

• Muckracking, also known as investigative reporting
• Personality profiles, like The New Yorker with human-interest stories
• Photojournalism, starting with Henry Luce in 1936 with Life Magazine (Vivian)

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PEOPLES GAZETTE

The question I will pose again, who is buying magazines today? Not the younger generations because they are according to Danah Boyd “the digital natives.” The “younger cohorts who grew up in the era of technology have vastly different tastes and behaviors than earlier cohorts” (Vivian). What Vivian is implying, these iGens are changing the way media and the economy traditionally functions. There is so much competition with “free,” existing purely from ad revenue, digital media that readers have stopped buying print magazines. Like many newspaper, many magazines have “converged” and adapted to fit in the digital age by running their own websites. Some print magazines have folded and only maintain an online presence.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PEW RESEARCH CENTER

The main sources for magazine revenue are advertising, subscriptions, and single-copy sales. A huge chunk of a magazine’s revenue comes from subscriptions and advertising and go towards production expenses. As I mentioned in my first blog post, advertisements are now geared towards the Internet, so traditional print is suffering more. As a result, many magazine have cutback jobs and have increased ad content (BBC).

Sources:

The Media of Mass Communication 12th Edition

It’s Complicated

BBC News

Film Revenue Streams

Hello readers!

 

This week on my section of the blog we will be exploring the revenue streams of the film industry. Considering modern movie budgets, selling tickets at the box office if not enough to cover the cost of producing a major motion picture. In fact, only one quarter of the revenue these films generate is collected from domestic box office showings.
The main ways that films generate revenue are through…

 

• Video rentals through on-demand services
• Licensing fees from streaming services & television broadcasters
• Domestic box office sales
• DVD and Blu-Ray sales
• Merchandise (toys, games, clothes, etc.)
• Foreign sales

 

Disney is the greatest example of this. When they release a film, for example Moana, they don’t just release the movie. They have toys, costumes, video games, books, clothing, and more all lined up to come out with the movie. Disney knows their audience and they know the market, which is why they not only merchandise their movies tremendously, but they have recently created their own streaming service as well. Disney creating their own streaming service is a perfect example of media convergence. Consumers expect that all media can be found online, including movies. Disney has noticed the online movement and the success of other streaming services and have created a new cybermedia model to maximize profit on the streaming of their films.
You can learn about Disney’s streaming service and how it will impact consumers in this video:

 

Disney is also known for their foreign sales. They are sure to hire international agents to push their films in countries other than the United States because they know that they have a global audience ready to be marketed to. Disney has also begun expanding its lineup of Disney princesses to include more ethnic groups and areas of the world. The globalization of mass media has made it possible for Disney to do so. Most recently, is a previously mentioned princess, Moana, who represents the Polynesian people in this new Disney film. The film, Moana, explores the tribal traditions and spirituality of Polynesian people as well as bringing a new standard of beauty and body type to the Disney princess lineup. Disney made the effort with this film to appeal to those of Polynesian descent as well as those looking for a Disney princess that doesn’t portray European beauty standards.

 

Disney Pixar has also recently released a film, Coco, that explores the Mexican holiday, The Day of the Dead. By basing the film’s concept around a boy from Mexico and exploring one of the nation’s most culturally notable holidays, they appealed to a more global audience than previous Pixar films. Disney’s efforts to globally market and their new project of inclusivity has not only maximized their profits, but has kept them at the top where they control 18.2% of the entire film industry.

 

When a new movie comes out that is expected to do good in the box office, the media deems it a “blockbuster” but what really matters to these companies is the revenue they generate through streaming services, merchandise sales, DVD and Blu-Ray sales, etc. Profits don’t depend on people going put to see the film in a theater like it used to. With advances in technology and new knowledge of the everchanging market, companies have found countless ways to generate more revenue than ever before and I hope you learned more about some of them today.

 

Stay tuned for next weeks post!

 

 

Sources:

U.S. Film Industry

How Exactly Do Movies Make Money

Economics and the Film Industry

How Disney Will Force Netflix to Change Streaming

Moana Movie

Moana Merchandise

Coco Movie

The Media of Mass Communication 12th Edition

 

Music at the City Level

The Economics of the “Music City”

PC: Brand Channel

An economy is defined by Google as, “The wealth and resources of a country or region, especially regarding the production and consumption of goods and services.” When using this definition, it is easy to apply to music and assume that music has the power to be at the center of a city’s economy. A great example of a music city is the Music City, Nashville, Tennessee.  Nashville has a deep-rooted connection with music that dates back to the early 1700s and has shaped the city’s economy at the core.  To date, a plethora of big-time artists has started in Nashville, such as Black Eyed Peas, Michael Bublé, and Justin Timberlake.

According to WIPO Magazine, music within a particular city is able to increase job opportunities and tourism while cultivating an environment for artist development and city branding. The article goes into detail on how specific cities can work towards becoming a “music city” in just seven steps.  All seven steps work to establish a particular brand for a city, which John Vivian observes, “Brand names have endured as an advertising strategy.”  To create a thriving music industry within a  city, it proves to be essential to advertise the city internally and externally.

PC: The New Economy

WIPO Magazine uses Melbourne, Australia as an example, because their 2012 census reported the music industry to “generate over AUD 1 billion” and support “116,000 annual full-time jobs”.  A 2008 impact study conducted in Seattle, Washington by the Seattle government reported similar findings to Melbourne. Seattle’s music industry “directly creates 11,155 jobs, with 2, 618 businesses generating an annual $1.2 billion in sales and $487 million in earnings”.

In several cases, as exampled above, music has impacted many cities’ economies and generated a booming industry.  While this primarily has to do with cities encouraging live music, it also has to do with the ability to advertise live music through media platforms and reach beyond an individual city community.

Sources:

Google

Seattle.gov

Vistitmusiccity.com

WIPO Magazine

Media and Mass Communication