What impact does media ownership have upon the range of products in the media area you have studied?

What impact does media ownership have upon the range of products in the media area you have studied?

All media products such as films are owned by a company or conglomerate, a media conglomerate being a multinational firm that distributes media products in the industry using their relative subsidiaries. The top 3 media behemoths in the industry consist of Comcast, Disney and Time Warner in the relative order.  Comcast sits at the most successive spot in the media industry making a profit of around $75 billion per year, owning such subsidiaries as Universal Studios and the relative parks and resorts, however gaining most success as a cable provider for television.

This is closely followed by Disney, bringing in around $50 billion per year, known majorly by national audiences it produces products we all know and love, owning such subsidiaries as Pixar, Marvel and most recently Lucas film we are all very familiar with, giving the conglomerate a very high chance of success due to its established popularity. Although they own such well known companies, it is in fact the relative parks, resorts and cruises that bring in the biggest percentage of income, known and scattered worldwide it is seen as a dreamland to most families.

However for my case study I closely studied the Conglomerate Time Warner. CEO Jeff Bewkes runs the conglomerate bringing in around $35 billion a year. This however has been recently had interest in being brought by AT&T for $85 billion as of October 2016, however has not been confirmed. The Behemoth owns such companies as HBO, CNN, Warner Bros and DC Comics.

Very recently Time Warner had success with the most recent rendition of the Batman trilogy; Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. This poses as the most successive series/trilogy of Time Warner history with The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises holding the 1^st and second spot in the most successive films of Time Warner.  In total the trilogy making $1.9 Billion.

To show the impact I want to focus on related more recent products of Warner Bros and DC Comics, Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and The Lego Batman Movie. All products possess a relation to the cash cow that is batman. Batman being a product of the DC Comics franchise, it has received major success and now has a mass popularity. Although each three of these films received major critique and were not as near popular to that of the recent batman trilogy they were a major success in terms of profit. Dawn of Justice making $700 million profit (to current date) after their $250 million production budget, Suicide Squad making $650 million (to current date) after its $150 million production budget and finally The Lego Batman Movie making $200 million (to current date) after its $80 million production budget. Meaning the three films have made around $1.55 billion in profit (to current date). This clearly shows that media ownership has a major impact on the industry as companies with established products and franchises can use a tent pole formula of Big Stars, CGI, pyrotechnics etc. using a large production budget in which they have access to due to their yearly income and ability to invest knowing they are guaranteed success.

This success can also be based on the conglomerates ability to market properly. Although most companies will have the ability to use teaser trailers and official trailers to market their product having a larger budget to do so will definitely increase chances of success. Whereas smaller companies will not have this ability and may even have to resort to marketing via word of mouth. Using the platforms of social media, already established products such as batman will already have uber fans creating their own content and discussion to support it such as Swedes, Fan trailers, Fan Art, Fan websites, memes, reaction videos and acts as free marketing keeping the franchise alive. The platform that is YouTube gives companies such as Time Warner a major advantage giving them an insight into analytics and how to best market their upcoming product through teaser trailers and relative fan productions.

The company can then further go ahead taking viral and traditional marketing techniques making them more extravagant than some such in the case of The Dark Knights marketing strategy leaking a virtual game into real life with clues and concepts all over the place sparking mass online discussion and hype for the upcoming film due to their ability to fund this.

The film is then finally distributed to the relative cinemas/theatres in different formats depending on your ability to achieve it in different formats. Conglomerates producing tent pole movies will put out their film in 2D, 3D, IMAX and more recently 4D.  Whereas smaller budget films will have the simple option of 2D giving the viewer a less immersive experience of that what would be a major film. This section then brings in the major amount of profit.

Shortly follow the release into the home media market, again giving the viewer options of SD, Blu-ray and more recently 4K HD, not only this but the films can then be distributed digitally via streaming companies such as Netflix, Now TV, Sky and many more, the fight for exclusively being able to show tent-pole movie first will bump the cost for the streaming company and bump the profit for Time Warner. Whereas smaller company products will not be of high demand, being sold for smaller prices.

This is all then supported by the ability of non-digital and digital convergence of relative products to the media product. From digital products such as apps, games, interactive toys to non-digital products toys, posters and decoration all bring in a larger profit to the producers, again not achievable by smaller companies.

All of this very much shows media ownership has a very large impact on the film industry, although there are some exceptions for success, it is all very dependent on their established success and ability to spend on production and marketing.

To what extent does digital distribution affect the marketing and consumption of media products in the media are you have studied?

To what extent does digital distribution affect the marketing and consumption of media products in the media are you have studied?

Digital distribution affects the marketing and consumption of media products in the film industry in modern day due to the continuing development of digital media allowing more people to watch films in the comfort of their own home, becoming more dependent on the internet and taking less trips to the cinema. This mean that the film industry must take this into heavy consideration before promoting and more so distributing a film and so many online or televised methods are now used during the marketing and consumption of the said media products.

A prime example of this shows the marketing strategy of ‘Batman: The Dark Knight’ they set up a viral campaign like no other. Starting at Comic-con and online the uber fans were given a virtual game in which leaked into real life events all relative to the upcoming film, creating hype around the product way before its release. Creating a trail of clues and concepts this left fans chasing for more and more information with hidden symbols and codes, even to the extent of putting mobile phones in a randomly selected cake store as a part of the trail. This whole idea sparked massive online debate supported by the teaser trailers and even put out a hidden ‘Jokers Edit’ trailer unofficially for fans to find. This whole marketing campaign caused the biggest success Time Warner has had to date making over 1.1 billion dollars on box office and in the home media after its $185,000,000 production budget. Any major film studio will have a marketing strategy with an online element, such as a few teaser trailer and official trailers, but only few will reach viral victory, The Dark Knight being one of so.

Another example of this being the marketing strategy of ‘Cloverfield’ cleverly releasing untitled footage of new York city in a horrific state, leaving people intrigued as to whether this is real or why on earth this was made. And filmed from a hand-held perspective adds elements of belief and the clip virally blew up bringing them major attention, perfect for smaller scale budget of $25,000,000 which in fact made the company $175,000,000 dollars profit after the production budget.

The same effects, usually come from well known already established media products, known as cash cows, such as batman, they are able to invest into the film knowing it will perform well. Due to its popularity the franchise is still kept alive with fans, creating SWEDES, drip-fed images, memes, Fan films, Fan blogs, reaction videos and unofficial trailers this continues spark without Warner bros or DC Comics having to do anything, all bringing attention to the original media product. For example the three most recent films relative to the franchise are Batman vs Superman, Suicide squad and the Lego Batman Movie. All receiving major critique however yet making $1.7 billion all together in terms of profit, very close to the top performing trilogy of Time Warner being the most recent rendition of the Batman trilogy making $1.9 billion.

In terms of consumption The Dark Knight would have been released in different formats such as 2D, 3D and IMAX which was an experience that cannot be topped by digital distribution, but then furthermore sold to online distributors such as Sky Movies, Now TV, Netflix etc. a couple of month after its release into theatres. Post – Theatre consumers also have the option to purchase the film in different formats such as SD, HD, Blu-ray and more recently 4k HD, so as to give them an immersive experience from their home, scaling in quality with price, so as to reach an extremely wide audience.

This arrangement sees that those who did not want to pay a fairly weighty price for a cinema ticket, although would have been the most immersive experience, can wait for the disc release, acting as a permanent investment for a lower price or even watch the film via an online streaming service such as Netflix or Now TV for a small monthly subscription. Often films that people are unsure of feel safer to purchase the DVD or watch it online, rather than spending all the money of a theatre experience they may be disappointed with.

These ranges of options to view the film give the media product more availability of success. However the film industry may not always look upon this digital distribution as positive due to the many websites allowing viewers to watch the product for free illegally. Which means the film company lose part of its potential profit, although this is not usually a problem for well-known tent pole films, it can be a major problem for lower budget films who rely on success to keep their company alive.

Overall, digital distribution affects the marketing and consumption of films rather significantly, as the internet is becoming increasingly more popular and accessible as the years go on, a cinema experience is becoming less of a demand due to the continuing development of technology.

What significance does the continuing development of digital media technology have for institutions and audiences?

What significance does the continuing development of digital media technology have for institutions and audiences?

This continuing development has a huge significance on media institutions and audiences. The film industry is constantly changing and adapting to find the most efficient and effective way to distribute their product. Without this continuing development several production, marketing and distribution techniques could not be used, thus lowering profit/turnover.

A large majority of what a film needs in its formula for success is powered by technology. An example of this being special effects, pyrotechnic and CGI used in production practices. Films such as Batman vs Superman and Suicide Squad (both products of Time Warner) are very much CGI dominated due to their supernatural concepts, this was all achievable due to their large production budgets of $250 million (Batman Vs Superman) and $200 million (Suicide Squad). Their profit margins show how this element helped with their success, with Batman vs Superman making $700 million after their production budget in the box office and home media & Suicide Squad making $650 million after their production budget in the box office and home media. There are some rare cases in which not a lot of CGI is used with major success based on their budget such as ‘The Theory of Everything’ a product of Working Title Films, owned by the conglomerate Comcast made $115 million after its $15 million production budget, however although it had success you can clearly see the profit margin between that of films which do use a large amount of CGI and those who do not. This supports that this continuing development is important, as new software and hardware is dedicated to improving the use of special effects and clearly shows it has a positive outcome on sales figures.

Another major importance is that of marketing. In my case Study I chose products of Time Warner created by Warner bros and DC Comics. This is now heavily supported with new digital media technology development and how these companies/conglomerates can now market their product for a higher profit margin upon release. A prime example of success shows the marketing strategy of ‘Batman: The Dark Knight’ they set up a viral campaign like no other. Starting at Comic-con and online the uber fans were given a virtual game in which leaked into real life events all relative to the upcoming film, creating hype around the product way before its release. Creating a trail of clues and concepts this left fans chasing for more and more information with hidden symbols and codes, even to the extent of putting mobile phones in a randomly selected cake store as a part of the trail. This whole idea sparked massive online debate supported by the teaser trailers and even put out a hidden ‘Jokers Edit’ trailer unofficially for fans to find. This whole marketing campaign caused the biggest success Time Warner has had to date making over 1.1 billion dollars on box office.

This brings me to the point of digital convergence where now products such as apps, trailers, toys, games are all available relative to a product given the money ability to expand into this bringing in further profit and popularity to the film.

The increasing technology of social media is also on the rise, which further supports the producers of such media products as film. Especially with platforms such as YouTube. Releasing teaser trailers on popular and developed channels helps give the producers an idea and analytics of who their product appeals to the most and the best way to target their marketing strategy. Social Media can also be used for fan debate, discussion an advertising platforms. Fans even often tend to create SWEDES for big franchises relative to their product with the companies not having to pay the creators however benefiting those behind the real product, creating more hype around the upcoming media product.

More recently, it has also become an option to digitally stream the latest films, shortly after release on well known platforms such as SKY, Netflix, NOW TV, Virgin and Amazon Prime. This brings a consistent income to the production company in the home media performance section, This can always be accessed in later years upon agreement, films as old as 30 are still available to play today. This has an impact on institutions and audiences for those who cannot afford to visit a movie theatre of prefer the comfort of their own home. Without this development, several films would have ceased to have made such a profit as they have done.

The Home media now also offers a range of different formats of recent movies, such as 4k HD, Blu-ray and standard definition, all ranging in price based on their quality all always different experiences of the film, usually dependent on your social grade, This further brings in a profit giving the audience a wider availability. This also applies to the different viewing formats in the cinema, such as IMAX, 3D, 2D and more recently 4D giving an option of more immersive experiences, parallel with prices. 

I agree with the idea that the continuing development of digital media technology is very significant, however strictly believe its ability is very biased on its price of course. Clearly shown by the 3 dominating media behomeths, Comcast, Disney and TimeWarner their film are of massive success based on their ability to spend, products of universal studios, Disney and relative subsidiaries from TimeWarner such as HBO, CNN, Warner Bros etc. show mass success in comparison to those of smaller companies with the inability to spend and dominate due to how they can attract their audience and institutions.