Issues with Media Ownership

Discuss the issues raised by media ownership in the production, distribution, marketing and exhibition/exchange of media texts in your chosen media area:

Media ownership has a significant impact of distribution, production, marketing and exhibition/exchange in the film industry, especially as 6 major studios make 90% of its profits. In the major USA film studios like Disney, the same company will keep the rights for everything in which they have expertise, such as often selling off the rights to distribute a film in certain countries which are smaller markets like Turkey. In countries with smaller film industries like the UK, where there are no big studios, co-productions like the King’s Speech are common, and different rights are usually owned by many different companies.

Production:

Media ownership has led to difference in the genres of films made in the UK and US film industries. Because of the greater budgets given to Hollywood produced films they can afford more SFX and globally known actors, allowing to them to create globally appealing films, as well as to focus on the main profit-making genres such as action. It is also easier for Marvel (owned by Disney) to shoot their films as the company own huge production lots, as well as the horizontal integration of all the different areas of production under the Disney banner. One disadvantage of Disney’s ownership could be that Marvel may lose creative control even though they gain bigger budgets. As the major Hollywood studios are mainly motivated by profit, the production companies they buy up will have to make more commercially viable films, and often Hollywood is seen as a film factory. The difference in budgets (for instance the Avenger’s $220 million budget compared to Kings Speech’s budget of $15 million) means that British productions tend to have to be period dramas or other similarly lower cost ventures, with more nationalized appeal. British productions tend to be more motivated by art and often achieve critical acclaim, however limited by small budgets and localized appeal.

Distribution:

British productions tend have a greater range of financiers so they have to share creative control, and as they don’t have their own employees the cast and crew are an eclectic mix of different people. This also means that British production companies like Bedlam productions aren’t able to develop their own brand identity unlike Marvel, who produced the Avengers and are known for superhero comic book adaptations. It also means that they are neither horizontally nor vertically integrated, and have to sell of the majority of the rights as unlike companies like Disney they don’t own their own channels of communication or distribution channels. However because British films are usually co-productions they can often sell the rights to sister companies or partnerships, as was the case in The King’s Speech where See Saw films (an independent British production company) arranged the sale of the rights to distribute in Australia and New Zealand to its sister company Transmission films who have expertise in that market.

Marketing:

Another consequence of the 6 major film studios having such large market share is that they can reinvest profit back into 360 degree interactive marketing campaigns. Compare this to the more traditional marketing campaigns used by British production such as the King’s Speech which focused heavily on its poster campaign, and it is no surprise that Hollywood films like the Avengers make more than 5x the profit of even the most successful British films. Traditional marketing methods are more likely to reach older audiences, and that may be part of the reason that the UK film industry often targets the grey pound. Hollywood films also market on a greater range of media platforms, with films like the Avengers having copious amounts of merchandize, apps, games and a strong presence on social networks like Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook, in order to reach teenagers and young adults. The fact that Disney owns companies like Digisynd who specialize in social network marketing means that it has experts to promote the film in every possible way in order to create a buzz around a film and make it a must-see. Films like The Avengers have glossy slick marketing campaigns, and while both British and Hollywood will have synergistic campaigns Hollywood marketing will be far more cross platform.

Exhibition/exchange: 

In today’s increasingly competitive market cinemas must compete with the popular gaming and TV markets to entice audiences into cinemas. Hollywood pours its profit into investments to improve cinema technology in order to prise audiences from the comfort and convenient of their home entertainment systems. Disney has been researching 3D technologies since 1953, and the large profits it earns from films like the Avengers (which made a  record breaking $1.2 billion) means that it can invest in further technological advances to further reduce costs and to offer something new to audiences. This is a disadvantage for the British film industry, which does not have the same level of reinvestment. The big Hollywood studios are also making using of the new opportunities the internet offers, just as Disney did by selling the rights to the Avengers online distribution to Starz media, then to Netflix in order to maximize profit and audience reach, despite the fact that The Avengers was the most illegally downloaded film of all time. While Hollywood films have a longer life span due to the DVD and Blu-ray releases and other merchandizing opportunities, British films tend to have a shorter life span, only being released in 2D and with DVDs containing limited extras. This means that British films will never be able to rival Hollywood films in terms of profits, but must compete based on their artistic value.

British film companies have less money for investment and limited power in the market place, but as they focus more on producing high quality artistic films with national appeal they often achieve critical acclaim and breakeven. Because the 6 Hollywood majors make so much revenue they have dominion in the market place, continuing to dictate cinematic trends and dwarf Britain’s smaller independent productions. However if UK  producers continue to invest in original unique and challenging films like the King’s Speech British films can compete with Hollywood ones based on their quality.