Audiences are commodities to advertisers.

Media are actively engaged in creating tastes and producing demand.

• Media have to cultivate a need for products—you likely won’t see an ad for Sony Televisions during a program for Global Warming. You will, however, during a sports game with emphasis on HD viewing. Also think of the types of trailers you see when you go and watch a film on theatres or on DVD.
• Mass media and mass consumption go hand and hand.
• Media not only produce programs, but attract audiences as commodities to sell to advertisers (says Political Economist Dallas Smythe).—McAllister (from the reading) is influenced by this approach. The idea that media generates a pro-capitalist atmosphere.

Advertising and the ‘audience commodity’

• Capitalism depends on generating demand. People need to buy your product!
• Advertising creates ‘problems’ which can be solved by consumption of products (E.g. a problem for us is global warming and the hole in the o-zone layer. So how do we solve that problem? Simple, go out and by sunscreen to prevent harmful exposure to the sun; go out and buy energy efficient air conditioners, florescent lighting, and other products that are ‘environmentally friendly.’ basically, things we can solve buy shopping)
• Audiences work for advertisers in spare time learning about shopping for products (E.g. I would do my own research for the best pimple removers to buy something for my sister; research for the best laptop. Basically, I spend a lot of time learning about products and why I need them).
• Commercial audience research sells the audience commodity to advertisers (We voluntarily educate ourselves to consumer—e.g. cooking shows).

High initial production cost, low reproduction cost

• (side note) People aged 13-24 spend on average 48 hours a week consuming media. This number was the same in 1981 and in 2001. The reason for that is because with the internet, you often use it and watch TV at the same time.
• (side note) Proprietary data: (Neilson) ratings for television consumption collect first hand and sold to media companies.
• Media products are talent goods, experience goods, and information goods.
• You can’t assume consumers will know about your product (talent), need to take risks (experience) and need to inform buyers (information)
• Production cost to create Titanic was $200 million. Once the film goes into the cinema, it gets distributed to consumers; later it gets distributed by DVD (small costs), etc.
• High cost of production & high risk
• Ease of digital reproduction & distribution (YouTube, etc)
• “Scale economies in media production are determined by massive consumption, not by massive production” (Angel Arese Reca, 2006). The more we consume of that particular product, the better economies of scale are.

Semi-public goods or ‘joint consumption’

• (side note) health care is a public good because we all need it. Defence/security is another public good because we all need it. Education is a public good, everyone needs it and everyone gets it.
• Media products, on the other hand, are not entirely public goods. There is a private aspect to them.
• Media as a public good—widely available, shared access, social goals
• Print, radio and TV (ad supported programming) are ‘free’ or low cost to consumers.
• Consumer media products (music, film) can be easily shared & redistributed (Can lend to a friend, can download from the net, etc…)
• We think of media products as shared goods, because they are supported by advertisers, available in multiple forms and channels. They’re also widely available and easily accessible.

Audience maximization, overcoming risks to reach markets

• Media need to be managed so that it reaches as wide an audience as possible
• Rise of marketing, promotion, and branding (McAllister) helps to overcome spatial separation (E.g. huge promotional budgets).
• Competition in teen magazine market lead to changes in format, content and quality of product or ‘tabloidization’ (Nice article)
• Strategies: repertoires, formats, genres and star talent, popular or critical quality, marketing and branding –> this are things to focus on for media products on the media log assignment.

Repertoires: a list arranging different products; a collection or catalogue of different things—the company producing the product and what else they have to sell

• Harry Potter films—they offer more than just one, but 4 different movies. Harry Potter films together have now earned 4.47 billion.
• Warner Brothers have had many successes, but have also released some horrible films.
• The accumulation of more than one type of product, in the event that some are unsuccessful, unprofitable ventures. WB has many films a year in case some of the films suck; they still have others to rely on in boosting their revenue.

Formats

• Genre. In newsprint a paper can be quality (Globe and Mail) or tabloid or filth (Toronto Sun). With television, there are many specialty channels now—Cooking Channel, Golf Channel (Film genres would include Horror, Sci-Fi. Etc).

Star talent

• Cinema and television rely on bankable stars to bring audiences to their products (Michael Moore was once unknown, now he’s a sure sale).
• Some stars choose bid budget pictures because they are assured of high promotion (E.g. in Harry Potter, strategic combination of unknown child actors and ‘star power’).
• Adults get something from the stars, the kids just come because it’s Harry Potter

Quality

Three standards of quality that are applied simultaneously:

Objective quality defined by media produces and professionals based on quantitative audience measure

• Grading, how often music gets played in the media, number of sales
• Ratings, box office revenue, chart position of a song, measuring demographic, etc

Subjective quality, both audience interest and critical tastes

• What others think of it—reviews, fan sites—do some research on audience interest. Check out the ratings for it, go to tv.com and look at audience ratings and number of ratings. Evidently, the more people submitting their votes, the more people care enough to voice their opinion online.
• Audience might just buy it randomly or for obscure reasons. Hard to tell exactly what subjective qualities are. Could be something that was read in a journal or review

Social and cultural qualities to the product, ability to meet the public goals

• What are the public goals of the media product? Creating people’s awareness about social issues, ethnicity and gender and race issues.
• Are they trash? Like teen magazines?