In this article, we will look at the structure of an international media
company. The company I am investigating is Time Warner, a media conglomerate that is responsible for companies that create movies, television shows, animations, video game production, comic books, magazines, newspapers, radio shows, and music. It is currently the world's second largest media production company (behind The Walt Disney Corporation) in terms of revenue. Time Warner's productions reach billions of viewers, listeners, and readers each day.
Brief History
Time Warner began life as the Kinney Parking Company. KPC became Kinney National Services when the KPC merged with The National Cleaning Company in 1966. Kinney National Services expanded into other markets by purchasing construction contracts, media production houses and talent agencies. During this period of growth it purchased Warner Bros, a movie production company, and DC comics. In 1972, due to a parking finance scandal, Kinney National Services sold off its non media-based assets and renamed itself Warner Communications Inc. In 2000, AOL, an internet service provider, purchased Warner Communications for $164billion, merging into the AOL Time Warner Group. This was in an attempt to combine the internet services of AOL with the media provisions of Warner in order to sell Warner's entertainment services to potentially tens of millions of new subscribers. Ultimately the plan failed, causing a then record loss of $99billion for the merged companies. Corporate restructuring led AOL to become another (lesser) asset for the company which now named itself Time Warner. The current CEO of Time Warner is Jeffrey Bewkes, who has been its Chairman and CEO since 2008.
Type of Company
As a corporate conglomerate that oversees many lesser companies that could ultimately function on their own, Time Warner is known as a horizontally managed company, with vertically managed companies as its assets. A group of men and women, a board of directors, oversee the running of the lesser companies as individual entities. These companies are run vertically, with a CEO of their respective company reporting to the board of directors at Time Warner. Time Warner are responsible for any corporate restructuring, purchasing of new companies and assets, dissolution of companies and assets not making any profit, and the direction of the conglomerate as a whole. There are benefits to having a corporate conglomerate controlling your company. The opportunities for investment are huge, as the controlling company pools the profits from all of its assets and subsidiaries into one pot, which it can distribute as it sees fit. As such, Warner Bros, a movie production company, can rely on Time Warner to make large cash payments to fund a movie. This means Warner Bros should not always have to source funds from outside sources, whereas many smaller movie studios must source funding from multiple investors. This can cause problems with the director losing control of the production as investors can dictate the direction the movie should be taken depending on how they see where the movie's success lies.
Useful Links
Time Warner corporate website
Company "About us" page
Wikipedia page detailing company history
Friday, 7 December 2012
Thursday, 6 December 2012
Media Industry Structure: National Company
In this article, we will look at the structure of a national media
company. The company I am investigating is The Guardian newspaper, a journalism company that specialises in its popular newspaper and highly popular news website and accompanying app.
Brief History
The Guardian was founded as The Manchester Guardian in 1819 by John Edward Taylor. It grew in size until it was formally changed to The Guardian in 1959. Its name was changed to reflect the reach of the newspaper, as the original name limited it to the Manchester area. The Guardian is the third most circulated newspaper in the UK, behind The Daily Telegraph and The Times. The current Editor is Alan Rusbridger, who has held the post since 1995.
Type of Company
The Guardian has a vertical business structure. It is owned by the GMG (Guardian Media Group) group, which also owns and runs The Observer , The Guardian's "sister newspaper" which prints on Sundays each week. The Guardian maintains control of all processes for which it gathers and creates its newspaper and website material. It employs its own in-house journalists and photographers and as such can maintain control of their work practices and ethics, firing and hiring where necessary. It also controls the creation process, dictating which stories are published and when, and lead editors are able to influence their editors how to write the stories being published, how to lay them out, and what photographs to use. The company also has its own printing department and controls the amount of editions to print. This is a benefit as reporting local and world news is a very dynamic process. If a big-news issue where to take place during scheduled printing, they can "stop the presses" and allow changes to be made to the paper before it is distributed to outlets. This allows the company to keep the newspaper current, as readers can often hear about the news before they read the newspaper, with the reader using the newspaper to gain a deeper insight into the story. A newspaper would gradually lose readers if it did not remain up-to-date, losing it money. Lastly, the newspaper distributes the newspaper to wholesalers. The Guardian also has an in-house website which it controls. It employs its own programmers and bloggers who report the news as and when it happens. The Guardian's website is the second most visited news website in the UK, and it has been at the forefront of adapting to new media since its infancy.
Useful Links
GMG Company Website
The Guardian news website
The Guardian App
Brief History
The Guardian was founded as The Manchester Guardian in 1819 by John Edward Taylor. It grew in size until it was formally changed to The Guardian in 1959. Its name was changed to reflect the reach of the newspaper, as the original name limited it to the Manchester area. The Guardian is the third most circulated newspaper in the UK, behind The Daily Telegraph and The Times. The current Editor is Alan Rusbridger, who has held the post since 1995.
Type of Company
The Guardian has a vertical business structure. It is owned by the GMG (Guardian Media Group) group, which also owns and runs The Observer , The Guardian's "sister newspaper" which prints on Sundays each week. The Guardian maintains control of all processes for which it gathers and creates its newspaper and website material. It employs its own in-house journalists and photographers and as such can maintain control of their work practices and ethics, firing and hiring where necessary. It also controls the creation process, dictating which stories are published and when, and lead editors are able to influence their editors how to write the stories being published, how to lay them out, and what photographs to use. The company also has its own printing department and controls the amount of editions to print. This is a benefit as reporting local and world news is a very dynamic process. If a big-news issue where to take place during scheduled printing, they can "stop the presses" and allow changes to be made to the paper before it is distributed to outlets. This allows the company to keep the newspaper current, as readers can often hear about the news before they read the newspaper, with the reader using the newspaper to gain a deeper insight into the story. A newspaper would gradually lose readers if it did not remain up-to-date, losing it money. Lastly, the newspaper distributes the newspaper to wholesalers. The Guardian also has an in-house website which it controls. It employs its own programmers and bloggers who report the news as and when it happens. The Guardian's website is the second most visited news website in the UK, and it has been at the forefront of adapting to new media since its infancy.
Useful Links
GMG Company Website
The Guardian news website
The Guardian App
Media Industry Structure: Local Company
In this article, we will look at the structure of a local media company. The company I am investigating is VisualChaos Studios, a photography company specialising in corporate, wedding, and portrait photography.
Brief History
Visual Chaos Studios is a photography company based in Crawley Down, West Sussex, and was co-founded in 2000 by Steve and Sarah Fisher. The company gradually expanded as their experience and pool of customers grew, until they purchased a new studio in 2007. From there, the company's success continued.
Type of Company
The company is privately owned, and as such, has a vertical structure. A company with a vertical structure has complete control of the processes for which that company is responsible for. In the case of this company, the process begins with producing the photographs (they own and operate their own studios and related equipment such as cameras, lighting, backdrops, props, etc), editing, and finally distribution. The company distributes the photographs via the internet (you can download them), or they deliver the photographs stored on a disk or memory card. Steve and Sarah Fisher can maintain complete control of these processes, making executive decisions for the benefit of the company.
Company Website
Company "About Us" page, including founding anecdote from founder Steve Fisher
Company "Find Us" page
Brief History
Visual Chaos Studios is a photography company based in Crawley Down, West Sussex, and was co-founded in 2000 by Steve and Sarah Fisher. The company gradually expanded as their experience and pool of customers grew, until they purchased a new studio in 2007. From there, the company's success continued.
Type of Company
The company is privately owned, and as such, has a vertical structure. A company with a vertical structure has complete control of the processes for which that company is responsible for. In the case of this company, the process begins with producing the photographs (they own and operate their own studios and related equipment such as cameras, lighting, backdrops, props, etc), editing, and finally distribution. The company distributes the photographs via the internet (you can download them), or they deliver the photographs stored on a disk or memory card. Steve and Sarah Fisher can maintain complete control of these processes, making executive decisions for the benefit of the company.
Company Website
Company "About Us" page, including founding anecdote from founder Steve Fisher
Company "Find Us" page
Wednesday, 5 December 2012
Media Industries (Task 1)
Media Industries
There are many different types of industries within the media world. Each one is intertwied with the other. For example, a new movie might spring up advertising websites (viral marketing) and magazine advertisements (direct marketing). Journalism will follow the production of the movie, offering actor/director interviews and commentary on the production process, and finally reviews of the film. There may even be video game tie-ins and mobile phone apps relating to the movie (for example: soundboards, clips, a mini game, character bios and location descriptions).
There are different industries within the media industry as a whole:
Publishing
The publishing industry pertains to printed media, ie novels, encyclopaedias, textbooks, puzzle books, biographies, etc. Magazines and newspapers are a form of printed media (published), but those forms of media are an industry in themselves and will be explained separate to the publishing industry.
Magazines
Magazine publishing pertains to the printing nd distribution of magazines. These magazines are printed monthly or weekly (or sometimes quarterly, depending on the magazine), and are usually geared towards a specific specialised subject. Magazines cover a huge range of topics and interests, such as fishing, rifle shooting, celebrity gossip, science, the arts, politics, gaming, children's interests, fashion, and so on. You can find magazines that cater for virtually any common interest.
Newspapers
Newspapers are focused on the news. Within the UK, there are two primary types of newspapers: broadsheets and tabloids. Tabloids, in general, tend to be heavily biased and with a political dogma that reflects that of the readers. Tabliods also typically follow celebrity gossip and focus less on global issues, though these are covered. Broadsheets are the opposite: they tend to follow politics and global issues and are mostly neutral. As the name implies, broadsheets have large pages and tabloids tend to be much smaller.
Animation
The animation industry focuses on animation. Animation is typically aimed at children, as animation can be highly entertaining due to the artistic style, but there is animation offered to teens and even adults. Typically a TV channel will create a show premise catered for an audience, send off the request to an animation studio who will then produce the show and episodes, who will then send back the completed episodes to the channel which will then broadcast the episode. Generally, a broadcasting channel will have its own pool of voice actors and a studio that produces the soundtrack and sound effects. These will be recorded before the animation studio begins production, which will be sent to the studio along with the storyboards and script (the script is used in tandem with the voice acting sounds so the animators can lip-sync) so the show can be produced. Some companies that air their own shows have in-house production facilities and employ their own animators (a good example of this is Disney, who air their own shows on The Disney Channel). This can apply to traditionally animated shows or shows that are animated in 3D using computer software.
For movie animation, typically a movie studio (Warner Bros, Disney, etc) will have their own animation studio tasked with creating animations. An feature length animation will obviously take far longer to produce than a 22 minute episode, and usually the animation quality is far higher as the budget is very high.
Film
The Film Industry is one of the biggest industries here. A huge amount of creative work goes into the process of making a film. The process can take years, depending on the film itself. A single movie can be worked on by hundreds of people.
Television
The television industry is responsible for creating, producing, and distributing television shows. There are many types of television shows, such as documentaries, news broadcasts, soap operas, Reality TV shows, and advertisements. The TV Industry typically creates and broadcasts these shows on their own channel (the BBC is a good example of this), but the TV channel can use third party production companies to produce a show which the channel will then air.
Web 2.0
Web 2.0 is the current generation of the internet. Web 2.0 refers to the technology used to create a website. For example, YouTube, a website created to host user-created videos, could not exist until Web 2.0 was created. The internet is an enormous industry that creates websites for consumption by internet browsers. Virtually any interest (whether common or uncommon) can be catered for via a specific website. Most companies have their own website which inform the viewer of current projects, company hierarchy, news, etc. Much like magazines, websites are "published", but the advantage a website has over a magazine is that adverts can include moving images, can be adapted based on the user's browsing history and interests (targeted marketing), and the website can include embedded videos and sound effects.
Music
The music production industry deals with the sourcing of artists and the production and distribution of music. The music industry pioneers new music genres, with individuals or bands producing their music for a music company such as EMI or Sony Music. The music industry relies on the latest technology to produce and distribute music, such as the internet or new storage technologies like memory cards or cloud storage. The music industry hit a particularly large high with the advent of highly portable music players like the iPod. Piracy is a particular problem for this industry in part due to the ease of file sharing via the internet, so many music companies are highly aggressive in tackling internet piracy.
Radio
The radio industry tasks itself with producing radio shows for distribution over the airwaves. Radio shows are wide and varied, catering to local towns and cities, or nationally. They can be politically motivated, geared towards a specific genre of music or musical era, chart music, talk-show based, or for general entertainment.
Video Games
The video game industry creates and distributes video games. Video game production is very similar in principle to movie production, especially in this era. The video game industry in its infancy was very simple. A basic video game consisted of graphics and sound effect production, and coders would construct an interactive game around these. As the video game industry flourished and technology progressed, video games became more cinematic. Voice actors and orchestras would record lines and soundtracks, and movie "language" (such as camera angles and direction) began to trickle into certain games. Interactivity increased, where players could influence the environment in ways that were beyond simple gameplay mechanics. As technology progressed further, motion capture became prevalent in order to increase realism and player immersion. Celebrity voice acting became common as the industry grew into new heights. As of 2012, the video game industry rivals the movie industry in size and profit. Some games, such as Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty, carry so much weight that their release can affect profits for other markets. Upon release of GTA IV, for example, the movie industry took a hit as movie-goers stayed at home to play the game instead of going out to watch movies.
Facilities
The facilities industry is related to the equipment and technology the other industries use to create their media. Movie-makers use recording equipment and software to create the films, and the facilities industry produces the cameras, mics, editing software, and distribution equipment that are needed. Music makers use recording equipment such as mixing decks and microphones, musical instruments, and music editing software. The facilities companies, like Aria or Sony, can directly sell this equipment to large and wealthy movie/music/radio production companies. Smaller companies can rent the equipment on an ad hoc basis and return them when production ends. Some companies produce equipment and software that editors use, but these companies may also produce products that are not exclusive to media. An example of this is Apple. They produce Final Cut, a movie editing software suite that is widely used within the movie industry, yet they also produce computer software for home office and even commercial and home computers. Smaller companies may not produce any equipment at all, but instead buy products directly from the equipment producers in order to lease them out media producers to make profit.
There are many different types of industries within the media world. Each one is intertwied with the other. For example, a new movie might spring up advertising websites (viral marketing) and magazine advertisements (direct marketing). Journalism will follow the production of the movie, offering actor/director interviews and commentary on the production process, and finally reviews of the film. There may even be video game tie-ins and mobile phone apps relating to the movie (for example: soundboards, clips, a mini game, character bios and location descriptions).
There are different industries within the media industry as a whole:
- Publishing (novels, books etc.)
- Magazines
- Newspapers
- Animation
- Film
- Television
- Web 2.0
- Music
- Radio
- Video Games
- Facilities
Publishing
The publishing industry pertains to printed media, ie novels, encyclopaedias, textbooks, puzzle books, biographies, etc. Magazines and newspapers are a form of printed media (published), but those forms of media are an industry in themselves and will be explained separate to the publishing industry.
Magazines
Magazine publishing pertains to the printing nd distribution of magazines. These magazines are printed monthly or weekly (or sometimes quarterly, depending on the magazine), and are usually geared towards a specific specialised subject. Magazines cover a huge range of topics and interests, such as fishing, rifle shooting, celebrity gossip, science, the arts, politics, gaming, children's interests, fashion, and so on. You can find magazines that cater for virtually any common interest.
Newspapers
Newspapers are focused on the news. Within the UK, there are two primary types of newspapers: broadsheets and tabloids. Tabloids, in general, tend to be heavily biased and with a political dogma that reflects that of the readers. Tabliods also typically follow celebrity gossip and focus less on global issues, though these are covered. Broadsheets are the opposite: they tend to follow politics and global issues and are mostly neutral. As the name implies, broadsheets have large pages and tabloids tend to be much smaller.
Animation
The animation industry focuses on animation. Animation is typically aimed at children, as animation can be highly entertaining due to the artistic style, but there is animation offered to teens and even adults. Typically a TV channel will create a show premise catered for an audience, send off the request to an animation studio who will then produce the show and episodes, who will then send back the completed episodes to the channel which will then broadcast the episode. Generally, a broadcasting channel will have its own pool of voice actors and a studio that produces the soundtrack and sound effects. These will be recorded before the animation studio begins production, which will be sent to the studio along with the storyboards and script (the script is used in tandem with the voice acting sounds so the animators can lip-sync) so the show can be produced. Some companies that air their own shows have in-house production facilities and employ their own animators (a good example of this is Disney, who air their own shows on The Disney Channel). This can apply to traditionally animated shows or shows that are animated in 3D using computer software.
For movie animation, typically a movie studio (Warner Bros, Disney, etc) will have their own animation studio tasked with creating animations. An feature length animation will obviously take far longer to produce than a 22 minute episode, and usually the animation quality is far higher as the budget is very high.
Film
The Film Industry is one of the biggest industries here. A huge amount of creative work goes into the process of making a film. The process can take years, depending on the film itself. A single movie can be worked on by hundreds of people.
Television
The television industry is responsible for creating, producing, and distributing television shows. There are many types of television shows, such as documentaries, news broadcasts, soap operas, Reality TV shows, and advertisements. The TV Industry typically creates and broadcasts these shows on their own channel (the BBC is a good example of this), but the TV channel can use third party production companies to produce a show which the channel will then air.
Web 2.0
Web 2.0 is the current generation of the internet. Web 2.0 refers to the technology used to create a website. For example, YouTube, a website created to host user-created videos, could not exist until Web 2.0 was created. The internet is an enormous industry that creates websites for consumption by internet browsers. Virtually any interest (whether common or uncommon) can be catered for via a specific website. Most companies have their own website which inform the viewer of current projects, company hierarchy, news, etc. Much like magazines, websites are "published", but the advantage a website has over a magazine is that adverts can include moving images, can be adapted based on the user's browsing history and interests (targeted marketing), and the website can include embedded videos and sound effects.
Music
The music production industry deals with the sourcing of artists and the production and distribution of music. The music industry pioneers new music genres, with individuals or bands producing their music for a music company such as EMI or Sony Music. The music industry relies on the latest technology to produce and distribute music, such as the internet or new storage technologies like memory cards or cloud storage. The music industry hit a particularly large high with the advent of highly portable music players like the iPod. Piracy is a particular problem for this industry in part due to the ease of file sharing via the internet, so many music companies are highly aggressive in tackling internet piracy.
Radio
The radio industry tasks itself with producing radio shows for distribution over the airwaves. Radio shows are wide and varied, catering to local towns and cities, or nationally. They can be politically motivated, geared towards a specific genre of music or musical era, chart music, talk-show based, or for general entertainment.
Video Games
The video game industry creates and distributes video games. Video game production is very similar in principle to movie production, especially in this era. The video game industry in its infancy was very simple. A basic video game consisted of graphics and sound effect production, and coders would construct an interactive game around these. As the video game industry flourished and technology progressed, video games became more cinematic. Voice actors and orchestras would record lines and soundtracks, and movie "language" (such as camera angles and direction) began to trickle into certain games. Interactivity increased, where players could influence the environment in ways that were beyond simple gameplay mechanics. As technology progressed further, motion capture became prevalent in order to increase realism and player immersion. Celebrity voice acting became common as the industry grew into new heights. As of 2012, the video game industry rivals the movie industry in size and profit. Some games, such as Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty, carry so much weight that their release can affect profits for other markets. Upon release of GTA IV, for example, the movie industry took a hit as movie-goers stayed at home to play the game instead of going out to watch movies.
Facilities
The facilities industry is related to the equipment and technology the other industries use to create their media. Movie-makers use recording equipment and software to create the films, and the facilities industry produces the cameras, mics, editing software, and distribution equipment that are needed. Music makers use recording equipment such as mixing decks and microphones, musical instruments, and music editing software. The facilities companies, like Aria or Sony, can directly sell this equipment to large and wealthy movie/music/radio production companies. Smaller companies can rent the equipment on an ad hoc basis and return them when production ends. Some companies produce equipment and software that editors use, but these companies may also produce products that are not exclusive to media. An example of this is Apple. They produce Final Cut, a movie editing software suite that is widely used within the movie industry, yet they also produce computer software for home office and even commercial and home computers. Smaller companies may not produce any equipment at all, but instead buy products directly from the equipment producers in order to lease them out media producers to make profit.
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