Essay 3 - Mr Ford

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

Media ownership is having control of a mass of media products. The scale of ownership often depends on the amount of money the company earns. A big and wealthy  institution can buy out other smaller companies in the industry, they therefore have ownership of these smaller institutions and they become subsidiary companies. These wealthy institutions are called conglomerate companies because all the profit and money made as a result of the subsidiary companies remains in the conglomerate. This relates to Walt Disney Studios which were the producers of Star Wars: Force Awakens. On the other hand there are independent institutions, such a DNA films, which do not have much media ownership and therefore have to synergise with other independent companies. This can have a huge impact on the range of products available to audiences.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens was produced my Walt Disney Studios, a conglomerate company that is recognised for being one of 'The Big Six' media companies that dominate and control 90% of the industry. A media conglomerate is a company that has ownership of numerous smaller companies involved in the industry in various sectors including production, distribution and marketing. Walt Disney Studios has ownership of nine different institutions excluding its self, these include; Touchstone pictures, Lucasfilm (producer of Star Wars), ABC Entertainment and Marvel Entertainment. If Disney, the conglomerate, alone does not have the capability of creating certain products, it can vertically integrate with its subsidiary companies to create the product in demand. This results in the media conglomerate, Disney, having the competence to create a huge range of products. Due to the fact that Disney was responsible for all aspects of Star Wars: Force Awakens production, distribution and marketing it had to vertically integrate with Lucasfilm, one of its subsidiary institutions, to produce the film. However because the company was owned by Disney, all profits made remained in the conglomerate. Another example is when Disney used ABC Entertainment to market the new Star Wars: Force Awakens film by having the anchors from ABC showed up on 'Good Morning America' (A popular American chat show) dressed as Star Wars characters. This highlights that media conglomerates can use all of its subsidiary institutions, which specialise in a variety of areas with in the industry, to create a wide variety of audiences. Along with creating the products, the companies also help to cater for different groups from the four quadrant which will improve the availability of the products.

Star Wars: Force Awakens is a vertically integrated film. Vertical integration is where an institution has ownership of the means to produce, market and distribute a media product, as a result of this they will receive all profits made from the product. In order for Disney, a conglomerate institution, to complete production process, it had to vertically integrate through its subsidiary company, Lucasfilm.  In contrast, horizontal integration is where a company expands into other areas of the industry. This means that the company can develop in a particular area of production or they can buy out companies that deal with these areas.Both types of integration involves companies working together, this could result in the production of a bigger range in products because the companies can have an influence on each other.

In contrast to conglomerate companies, we also have independent companies. These are predominantly smaller institutions that have no input from major studio companies, therefore it works on its own. The domination of media conglomerates results in the smaller/individual production companies having little media ownership. This can often damage the overall profit created from the niche films they have to synergise with other separate companies that specialise in a particular are such as distribution or marketing. This means that the independent institution would have to share the profit with the company that it synergised with, which results in less money being made. This often means that independent companies do not have the financial strength to fully produce a film individually. Due the fact that DNA films, which is an independent institution, was the producer of Ex Machina, it did not have the means to produce the film on its own. Incidentally the company synergised with Film 4 studios which would improve the end product ex Machina as the companies could combine each others equipment, money, name and popularity. However, despite the successful product, there was no cross convergence which resulted in a lack of products relating to the film. Despite the two companies combination of money, they still only had the budget of $15 million which is not a lot in comparison to Star Wars: Force Awakens $306 million budget. This resulted in a high quality film but no excess money to spend on film related products and tie products. This could be proven by the lack of marketing for the film.

Another aspect of media ownership that can have an impact on the availability is synergy. This is where two different media platforms work together to use an idea that can be promoted but that benefits both of them. In addition, as a result of Disney's popularity other companies, not involved in the media industry, were willing to collaborate to promote the new, up and coming film in order to gain recognition for themselves. Collaborations with companies such as Covergirl, Hot wheels, Duracel batteries and Tesco could be seen months before the release of the film. Synergy is a clever marketing strategy especially for a media conglomerate that produce mainstream films. This is because these films are made to captivate all areas of the four quadrant. Incidentally, the marketing campaign also needs to be available for all ages.

Cross media convergence is where two or more companies work together to produce, distribute or exhibit a film. DNA films and Film 4 cross media converged with Invada Records (a part of the music industry) to create the Ex Machina sound track. Geoff Barrow composed the songs and then with the collaboration of the record company, they were able to distribute the soundtrack on to CD, Vinyl and enable it to be available for download and streaming. This system can help film institutions produce a wider variety of products as they are cross media converging with other companies that specialise in other area of the media industry (i.e. the music industry). This will be available to more audiences in the four quadrant as the different product will cater for different people.

In my opinion, media ownership is often to do with the financial strength of a company. If the institution is worth a lot of money, it is easy for the institution to expand by purchasing other production companies, which is where it then transitions to a media conglomerate. This then gives it control and power, which enables it to produce any product that the company thinks it can sell and make profit from.

Overall, media ownership does have a large impact on the range of products available to audiences. Media conglomerates, due to their financial strength, they hugely dominate the media industry. This results in them having access and ownership of institutions thats specialise in other areas of industry who will produce the product in demand, therefore expanding the range of products. Horizontal and vertical integration wide the variety of products as companies are collaborating together to create new products thats they do not already of the means to create. Independent companies who have very little ownership and money do not produce a range of products, as seen by Ex Machina - a niche film. Lastly, Synergy and cross media convergence are also the process of companies working together to produce that will benefit them both, often expanding in to other ares of the media industry.