What impact does media ownership have upon the range of products available to audiences in the media area you have studied (50 marks)

Within the media industry there is large control over the types of products shown to audiences. Large conglomerates will vertically integrate with smaller companies in order to make sure they have access to every aspect of the media industry and limiting what types of products can be shown within the cinema, especially with the big six (GE, Newscorp, Disney, Viacom, CBS and Time warner) dominating the cinemas and what is shown especially as they own 8% of British cinemas. However smaller companies can be known to horizontally integrate in order to have a relevant amount of control as to what is shown to audiences.

Majority of larger conglomerates will generate productions in which will generate the largest box office, this limits genre for audiences as majority of cinemas will be distributing and exhibiting the larger most profitable productions in order to increase affluence. Companies such as Disney tend to dominate the cinemas by releasing genre’s which can appeal to large audiences, for example Disney released ‘Trolls’, ‘Rogue one’ ‘Finding Dory’ ‘Secret life of pets’ ‘Zootopia’ and ‘The jungle book’ Most of the films mentioned seem to be of the ‘Family’ type genre, with many being sequels/ part of a franchise and some even being remakes of famous and popular films. This shows there is a limit with what audiences can view as the control within the cinema of the big 6 there is a lack of creative films produced by indepdent companies. This ensures that the large companies will remain the biggest and most dominating as they gain the most money with the widest enticing genre’s and the most accessible products.

However, in comparison to this indepdent companies seem to focus on creativity rather than profit and gaining access in to the largest cinemas. This allows audiences to gain a variety within the products available to them, instead of the domination of large conglomerates. Films such as ‘Dead man’s shoes’ and ‘71’ released by the production company Warp films focus on highlighting issues within society, inflicting creativity and imagination, and ensuring their audiences can gain some type of relation to the product, furthermore allowing them to gain uses and gratifications and heightening engagement. This shows there is a wide access to audiences and media ownership may not always effect how audiences can gain access to a product. It can be argued that Hollywood conglomerates only create productions for ‘passive audiences’ who view productions to just accept the messages put forward, unlike the niche films in which inspire conflicting opinions. This can link to the long tail theory, which suggests that audiences are now being further enticed into watching indepdent films as they have unique themes unlike those of which are produced by vertically integrated conglomerates.

Furthermore, large institutions within the media industry tend to dominate the cinemas via synergy and control the product’s in which are available to audiences by vertically integrating. With the increase of larger film companies collaborating and engaging with synergy it is harder for niche films to gain access to cinema’s as the dominating companies are now slowly edging their way into controlling the smaller companies and what they release. By vertically integrating, large companies can control the way in which a smaller company generates a product as the bigger institutions will be supplying the funding, allowing them to alter the production into one in which will generate the

largest profit and flood cinemas globally. By large institutions doing this they are still able to control what audiences can view in the cinema making it harder for them to view niche films. An example of this can be seen within the film ‘Fantastic beasts and where to find them’ wherein Warner bro’s takes control of Heyday films in order to produce a product that will generate the most money rather than opinions and gratifications. The box office of this production managed to reach a staggering $776.8million which is a substantial amount considering Heyday films is not as largely known as warner brothers. This example shows that Warner Bro’s allowed the production to generate the most profit by controlling what was put within the heyday films production.

However, due to the wide increase in platforms available to distribute and exhibit productions on it is easier for independent films to gain the attention they seek. Indepdent companies can now opt for the option of ‘online streaming’ in which they can stream their production on movie websites such as Netflix, amazon prime and love film. In doing this indepdent companies may not necessarily lose money and they will be able to get their production into the hands of their audiences even if not able to distribute to the cinema. This means audiences can be involved with smaller productions and can enable the use of technological convergence, wherein which everything a person accesses is on one piece of technology and can entice audiences into watching productions as they can do so on one device and in the comfort of their own home. This links to the theory introduced named ‘Media/internet 2.0’ This suggests that there is a new internet in which is being introduced wherein audiences can engage and feel gratifications with a product, they can furthermore share opinions and beliefs about a certain media text increasing hype around certain films and the increase of niche films. An example of this can be seen through the film ‘71’ which was previously mentioned, this can be found on amazon prime allowing audiences to access the production in whichever way they please.

Despite this, piracy is a large issue in which can lead to the decrease in box office. Films that are a target of piracy can lose signification amounts of money creating a large danger for independent films when choosing whether to distribute products of online streaming websites. Although, it can be argued that larger productions can be the main targets when it comes to piracy as they are the most demanded. An example of this can be seen from ‘Rogue one’ in which was stalled in many countries leading to the mass piracy of the film as fans could not wait for production release, showing that audiences can turn to piracy websites to view productions as it is free and they view multiple different films on particular websites such as 123movies.

Furthermore, there has been an extreme increase in the number prosumer s within the market as there had been an increase in the proliferation of hardware. This means audiences can now become producers and can create productions for audience’s members such as themselves. This increases the number of indepdent films in the market and creates a larger choice for audience members when choosing whether to view a film.

In conclusion, audiences do have a moderately wide range of products in which to view as they can access them through multiple different platforms and niche films are on the rise within media audiences. Despite this however, it can be argued that the big 6 still control the large cinemas such as Odeon, Cineworld etc as they generate the largest profits and can buy into the large distribution of their product and ensure they remain at the top with the use of wide audience appealing genres

and giant production budgets, limiting the uses and gratification in which audiences can gain as well as leading to lack of small companies gaining access to big cinema’s.