Understand how media products are advertised and distributed

This topic is about the ways in which products are advertised. Please do not confuse this with advertising techniques (like sex appeal) which is dealt with elsewhere.

There are two categories used to describe types of advertising in the media industry.

– Traditional methods: newspaper, magazine, radio, television. These are still very effective ways of reaching many people relatively cheaply.

– Contemporary methods: use digital techniques to promote goods and services. There are many clever and interactive techniques for promoting products online: popups, banners, video (via YouTube), adverts on streaming services e.g. ITV Hub, click bait, use of cookies, social media. These are described as Web 2.0 technologies.

We are going to look at two films separated by 20 years: Independence Day (1997) and the sequel, Independence Day Resurgence (2016).

The original Independence Day film tells the story of an alien invasion of Earth and how a small motley group of determined people battle the aliens despite being massively outnumbered and having far inferior technology. The film was a huge hit, partly due to the amazing special effects and an enormous marketing campaign. In 1997, there was no internet so traditional marketing methods were used to huge success. See the link at the bottom of this post to see how it was done …

The sequel, Independence Day Resurgence (2016) was accompanied by an equally huge advertising campaign, this time combining traditional forms of advertising with digital marketing – social media and a website. The film was less commercially successful than its predecessor and was rubbished by critics, partly because of a weak story and the absence of Will Smith.

Independence Day Marketing-

The independence day film from 1997 was marketed in many different ways using traditional advertising methods. This included; trailers, online and social, advertising and cross promotions and media and publicity.

Trailers-

The first trailer starts out with a military convoy taking what we soon see is Jeff Goldberg out to a site where they’ve found something that hints at the aliens being ready to come back. It’s a decent trailer that shows what the value proposition here is. 

Facebook and Twitter have been used to sell tickets, share trailers and clips, offer up countdown and other images and more. Not much super-original here, just the studio doing what they need to do to keep the drumbeat of publicity up for the public. When you load the official website you get the iconic key art at the top along with links to the movie’s social networks. After you scroll past the single “Poster” that’s on the site you can check out the “Gallery” of five stills from the movie.

Advertising & Cross Promotions-

TV spots would run throughout the campaign that played up the action and special effects of the movie, many of them using the “We had 20 years to prepare…So did they” copy point. Online ads used the key art and motion video and there was also plenty of social network advertising using videos to buy tickets.

Media & Publicity-

In the lead-up to the big press push the cast and crew talked here and there with the press about both the comfort and challenges of returning to a movie two decades after the fact as well as hinting at what the new movie had in

store for fans. There was also plenty of conversation and coverage around each of the elements of the marketing campaign, including all the in-world videos about the Earth Space, explanatory videos about what happened to characters from the first movie and more. There was a constant churn and it kept people talking.

Convergent Media-

finish at home

talk about pop up adverts and clickbait

Advertising & Distribution of Media Products

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Case Studies: Pre-Production, Production and Post Production

Film Production (from script to scream) –

The Shoot : Phase One

• Co-Producer/Director
• First Assistant Director
• First Assistant Camera
• Director of Photography
• Sound Recordist
• Special Effects
• Make Up Artists

Setting up-

Finding the scene at which they’re shooting at and shooting the scenes coordinated by the co-producer and co-director. Before the actual shoot they will do rehearsals the night before and 2-3 hours before the whole shoot they will run through the performances and ensure the cameras are in the right places, special effects and lighting are all ready.  

Camera and Kit-

They film the scenes on several cameras for different shots and ensure the have the best cameras available to use. They have help ensuring they have the right kit and accessories for the production. Sound recordist uses several different mics to ensure all sound is captured at the correct time to a good quality ensuring they don’t get additional sound from the crew.

Actors-

Budgets mean they have to work quickly,only one rehearsal before the actual shoot. Having good actors makes the whole production easier and quicker.

Special Effects-

Getting all the special effects in and making sure they are at the correct time. Making sure they don’t take too much time. Make Up needs measurements before the shoot to ensure everything fits such as masks.

They need to keep everyone on track. Meet everyone’s demands if they need anything, to ensure the production is made on time.

 

 

Job roles in Radio Plays (The Archers)

Click for video on the Archers

Pre-production

In the clip the editor of the show Vanessa Whitburn states that her job is to run script meeting that meet monthly with about 10 writers and some of the production team. They choreograph the story lines.

They receive in these story lines many types of ideas from all different people which give the show that range.

In the end she decides what story lines are the best and structures the story lines to fit with one another. They also script edit the scripts, which is where editors of the script will change and add their interpretation into it making it good enough for when it comes to record.

Production

Voice Actors – 

The voice actors job is to read from the script that has been edited by script editors In the video clip it shows two actors who play Caroline Sterling and her husband Oliver Sterling these two actors have to read and speak using there distinct voices that make up their characters.

Spot FX Operator – 

Make the distinct background noises for example doorbells and cups washing. to have this sound the Operator has to perform in order to get the noises that will be used this could include opening doors and even actually washing up cups in order to get that noise that will be perfect for that scene. They also are in with the voice actors so that when a character does something the operator has to make a noise that fits what they are doing.

Post-production

There are not that many Pre-production roles in the creation of Archers. The main pre-production roles can include the following:

Audio Editor

This job enquires the person to overlook the Audio of the production to see whether or not it sounds good enough to send to the people who eventually put it on the radio.

Website management

Someone throughout the company will be in charge of editing the Audio for use on the BBC IPlayer website This is so that people who may have missed the live broadcast of the radio show will be able to catch up using there tablet or mobile device and listening to the show online or sing the app.

 

 

Newspaper production:

Before anything the people working in the newspaper have a meeting to decide who is going were to report a story and what is going to be on the newspaper that day. The people working in the news have to go news gathering. This is where they go out onto the streets and search for any stories to write about. For example going to a kids sports game were you can give your review of the match and have interviews with the coaches and players. Getting pictures of the stories you have wrote about. Make sure that what your writing is interesting and that your readers want to read it so they don’t find it boring.

Newspapers don’t get their money from the money that comes from the sales of the newspapers they get it from there advertises. Kids in high school often do work for newspapers. They help out editing the newspaper together.

Newspapers have to make sure that what they write is facts. Must have evidence to back up the story.

Newspaper editors have the daily responsibility of deciding which news stories are printed in the paper. Long before the paper is published, the editor assigns reporters to cover the news, checks for accuracy and fairness in the newspaper’s articles and writes headlines. It is not unusual for a newspaper editor to have worked as a journalist or proof-reader before becoming an editor. After all the stories and the advert are designed by the graphic designers at the graphics section, as explained at the pre-press, the designed pages are taken to the lithographic section where the stories and the advert are registered on the plate. The plate is an aluminium-like iron sheet in the size of the newspaper (A3) that is used to run the printing of the newspaper on the printing machine after the information has been registered on the plate. A CTP machine (Computer to Plate) registers the already designed information at the pre-press on the plate. It is the plate at the lithographic section that is fixed on the machine to run impression. He post press is the circulation of the printed copies all over the nation and to different distribution centres across the country.

 

I have focused on the station radio 1 due to my extensive knowledge of it and my regular listening to it.There is a lot that goes into pre-production on the radio,for example their top chart section of the week takes a lot of effort and work due to that they get the data on the day from the Top Charts and then have 5 hours to then put that information through the system and then do editing and cutting to be able to get 40 songs into a 3 hour time slot. On top of all there has to be script written for the radio host which also has to be able to say something new and exciting about every song even if it has been in the charts for weeks.

During production because the radio is live everything has to be ran smoothly because there isn’t really any post production apart from an online/website development which is where statistics and the last show is put up.On speech radio presenters rely on their producers to prepare and brief them on the topics and people they’ll be talking to on air. Jennie equates the difference in the roles as being like that of solicitors and barristers. She says that the solicitors do all the heavy groundwork and preparation, and the barristers take that work and go and show off in court. In her opinion, “presenting equates to being a barrister”.

Things that are used during production are used like mics and the scripts,and also a time-table of when to play certain songs and for how long to be fit into a certain session. Also interviews have to be scripted to make sure that the right question s are said by the presenter however the person being interviewed cannot be scripted so the presenter has to be able to  go on and off script at anytime.

Working in the visualisation team means that directors will need a broad set of skills – from vision mixing their own content, multi-camera directing, operating cameras, liaising with the sound team and artists, and working live and under pressure, often with little opportunity to rehearse.

For delegates Dave Hillier and Thom Weller, learning how to work across teams of radio engineers and directors is hugely challenging and ultimately requires a level of compromise from both teams to get the best result on the day. They finish by giving their advice to anyone looking to get into visualisation: shoot and edit as much as possible and approach the job with a ‘can do’ attitude.

 

 

Pre -production film

One of the first things needed is a location for your film, the location should be suitable for what the film is about. Its suggested to get an insurance for the location, so if something does breaks, it’s already covered. A script is produced in the film, and you also need to know how many characters are in there and what special effects are in it. The film needs have the right timing, meaning the script needs to fit a certain scene in whatever minutes they want as long as it fits how long the film is. The production team scouts for a suitable place for the scene. A plan is made and then put onto a diagram, a deadline is set so everything is up to date and it gives a push.

The pre-production crew need to also organise the lightning that are needed for the film as well as sound check. This is to ensure when filming that every scene will run smoothly without any problems.

A makeup artist is also part of the pre-production team, as their job is to put makeup for the actors so they can be presentable for a scene. For example one scene the actors makeup might be natural, then for another scene the actor’s makeup might be dramatic with a black eye as the makeup artist has put that there.

Costume designers are also part of the team as well, and they decide what clothes should the actors wear and they also design special costumes that might be needed for the film. For example they might have to make a superhero movie and the costume designer will have to make a good, eye catching costume for the hero.

 

 

TV (Jeremy Kyle Show)

I have personally chosen my topic to be on television, specifically on the Jeremy Kyle Show. The Pre-Production for this programme is within the office with a number of crew members speak to the people who will be on the show, with that their situation is and what their allegations are, with statements being finalised. Medical situations will also be reported due to the fact that the trained staff can be nurses or doctors, to help a person if needs be. The photo below presents the documents of the statements from whoever will be on the show.

Picture1

 

It is a very busy time schedule for this programme as 8 shows are recorded each week, which makes it very difficult to quickly plan a show of this size, which is why each member of staff is excellently trained. The staff has to organise what will be said on the show for the public to see and certain members hold meetings on this subject, such as which questions to ask to the person who wanted to be on the show. Medical tests such as the lie detector test will be taken on some members who will be on the show and the nurses personally talk to the person who will appear on the show to check if they are even fit enough to be on the television as since they could be embarrassed on national tv and if they are not fit to be able to cope with this then it could go poorly.

 

When the show is being filmed, the microphone, camera angles and so on has to be timed perfectly to make the show look as best as possibly can be to the viewer. There are highly trained staffs behind the scenes working on everything, with great communication key to achieving the best for the viewer at home. This highlights how difficult it can be to record, prepare and film for the Jeremy Kyle Show.

 

 

 

 

Unit One: Production Processes

Pre Production- work done on a product, especially a film or broadcast programme, before full-scale production begins.

In ITV news Pre-Production jobs include Hair & Makeup, planning a new meeting for understanding when stories are going to be read for the running order.

For example a job in pre-production is an Animator Animation which is the art of making images that appear to come to life on screen. It features in all kinds of media, from feature films to commercials, pop videos, computer games and websites. Animators use a range of techniques to make images appear to move.

Production- the action of making or manufacturing from components or raw materials, or the process of being so manufactured.

The production includes the recording of the news. In the gallery there is a team of directors, a vision mixer and a camera man to record the show.

A job in pre-production is a Marketing Assistant, they help to deliver key marketing initiatives you would help with the delivery of key projects while having the opportunity to manage projects of your own.

Post Production- work done on a film or recording after filming or recording has taken place.

The ITV New co-ordinate the productions and decide when the clips and adverts are going to be played.

A well paid Post Production job is Digital Content Assistant Producer where digital content producer’s assistant to work across multiple digital mediums and produce brilliant digital content for thousands of end viewers.

Production processes behind media products

This is a research task which is best divided up between you to save time. You are aiming to produce a written piece explaining the pre-production, production and post-production processes involved in making the following media products:

– computer games development
– radio production
– TV production
– TV news production
– film production
– newspaper production
– magazine production

Music production is an optional extra

Using the video clips I have uploaded below as a starting point, you need to set out in words a 400 word overview of the processes that take place behind making each of these products. You may upload the clips to your WordPress blogs as well.

Job Roles in ITV News

In the clip of ITV news with Mary Nightingale, there are a range of pre-production, production and post-production job roles in evidence.

Pre-production
In the first part of the clip we see a news meeting taking place with Mary and her colleagues taking part in a planning meeting to discuss the running order for the news bulletin at 6:30pm. They are discussing what stories to include and the order they are to be presented in.

Mary prepares for the bulletin by writing a scrip before the broadcast and passing this onto the production team to add to the autocue. She also spends time in hair and makeup so that she looks good for the camera and has the same look as in earlier episodes (continuity of appearance).

Mary walks onto the green-screen set to take over from the previous presenter. She connects herself to a microphone and does a quick sound check. She has just a few minutes to check everything before the news starts.

Up in the gallery, the director and his/her team are preparing the various news report packages to show on screen. These are the stories filmed at different locations around the world. These are set up ready to play on cue. The director also has a script so that he/she knows when to play each news report.

Production
Mary reads the news from the auto cue and pauses each time to allow a ‘teaser’ clip to be shown to the audience. During the time a report is playing, she reads over the script and makes small changes as needed. The production team in the gallery give instructions to the studio telling the cameraman what to do. Mary is told which camera to look at. The production team play each video report on the instruction of the director.

Post-production
There are few post-production roles in a live broadcast. The key role at this stage of the product will be a specialist creating on screen graphics such as the credits and names of reporters.

Unit One: Media Service

Public Service-

A public service, such as the BBC inform and educate such as CBBC for children to learn and entertain such as strictly come dancing. The BBC produces a range of content that is not just for entertainment. Local and national news, party political broadcasts, politics programmes, the weather, programmes for infants etc are also shown on the BBC.

Channel 4 is a publicly-owned and commercially-funded UK Public Service Broadcaster in which delivers alternative content compared to other channels. Channel 4 is a State-owned public service broadcaster which was established as a statutory corporation and regulated by Ofcom it is subject to 16 licence quotas and other requirements, including: News and Current Affairs, Originally commissioned programmes, Out of London commissioning and Access services.

“The UK broadcasting ecology is the result of enlightened intervention by politicians and regulators. It is a carefully balanced mix of different organisations with different missions, business models and governance structures that have made UK broadcasting a worldwide success.”

Non-Public Service-

A non-public service is used for entertainment only.

An example of this would be Sky where people pay on a monthly basis to watch their TV. Sky has a range of channels including some you have to pay extra for such as ‘Disney’ and ‘Sky Sports’.

A Non-Public service is a disadvantage as because it’s non-public often they can run out of money and have to be shut down whereas a public service is constantly being funded.

Understand how media companies operate-

Apple is a vertically organised large media organisation. Senior team have very tight control of what happens in the organisation. Power rests mainly in the hands of the senior team. Junior managers have little influence.

Vertical organisation

When the management of an organisation exerts a strong level of control over all levels of a business down to the the actions of the least important employees – for example Apple and Disney. The vertical organisation has a structure with power emanating from the top down. There’s a well-defined chain of command with a vertical organisation, and the person at the top of the organisational chart has the most power. Employees report to the person directly above them in the organisation structure. Each person is responsible for a specific area or set of duties.

 

Horizontal organisation

A horizontal organisation has a less-defined chain of command. Employees across lines have similar input into how the organisation is run. Instead of each person having clearly defined duties, employees may work in teams, with everyone on the team having input. Employees may perform many different function and may report to several supervisors, rather than a single boss. Project managers or team leaders report to a team of supervisors, with members of each team being essentially equal in terms of power. When the management of an organisation exerts less strong control over a business and decision making is shared across a team. This is true of small to medium sizes media organisations such as the Lancashire Telegraph.

 

Vertical Integration
Cross–media marketing is a form of promotion in which promotional companies commit to surpassing traditional advertisement techniques and decide to include extra appeals to the products they offer. The material can be communicated by any mass media such as e-mails, letters, web pages, or other recruiting sources.

Cross-media Ownership is where large media companies own various types of media.
For example: Fox and Time Warner Cable.

Synergy is where media companies sell their products in different formats, for example, film, game, action figures like Harry Potter and Doctor Who etc.

Horizontal integration

 

Unit One: Media Organisations

Big-

• Multinational
• 000’s of workers
• conglomerate
• Multi-Media

Small-

• SME
• Sole Trader
• Self employed
  

  

Advantages and Disadvantages of conglomerates vs small companies-

Big companies have access to big budgets and can invest more money into quality production.

Can use one part of media business to promote another. Called synergy. An example of synergy is Disney where they promote other brand deals in their shops and on their TV.

Disadvantages of Conglomerates-

Owners of media conglomerates have a huge and arguably dangerous amount of political influence. Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner can use their media organisations to promote their political views, for example Murdoch can influence the general election by turning voters against Jeremy Corbyn. This is not good for democracy.

Unit One: Websites

Websites within the media are publicly owned to produce information and education to the public. Three websites such as the BBC, Bethesda and Aardman aim to produce public information which interests their audience.

 

BBC-

The BBC is a publicly owned website to provide information and education to the public. The BBC also have a radio channels, numerous television channels, news sources and

finally a website used to educate children in school and provide the latest news. Overall the BBC is the most well known media organisation. The website produces many different types of media such as the TV on iPlayer.

Bethesda-

Bethesda is a commercial ran website and aims to engage their audience. Bethesda sells games and promotes game sales. The website has its own ‘community’ and sales page, however the websites main focus is selling games to its audience.

Aardman-

Aardman is also a commercial ran website, this website aims to encourage their audience into their media such as apps, films and short series. The website gives options for the audience to view their work such as Shawn the sheep where you can see the creation of the characters.

Blogs and Vlogs-

These are user generated content which is not necessarily commercial, they have sponsorship sometimes. For example the YouTube vlogger Zoella has many different sponsorship for the beauty products she promotes.

Zoella

Zoella has over 30 Million followers on different social media platforms, often she is sponsored to create videos or posts on different products and is paid to do so. However vloggers are being forced to be upfront with their millions of followers when they are advertising brands following a ruling over a biscuit challenge.

The Advertising Standards Authority is making vloggers, who create video blogs on YouTube, declare if they have been paid to advertise a product.

This means that more recently followers have been able to recognise how many sponsors different You Tubers have.

Streaming Media-

Streaming media such as Netflix get customers to pay to fund their service. Customers pay a set amount a month to have an account with them, this is attractive to many people as unlike Sky and the BBC you can watch anything you want when you want to watch it without having to consider pre-recording the show before. This is a privately owned company as customers have to pay to use the site.

Netflix is the world’s leading internet entertainment service with 104 million members in over 190 countries enjoying more than 125 million hours of TV shows and movies per day, including original series, documentaries and feature films. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on nearly any Internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments.

Social Media-

On social media there are 2 billion worldwide users, many social media is made addictive to ensure that people keep coming back to the sites. This is because social validation is an important part of being human. A Facebook ‘Like’ or a Twitter ‘Favourite’ is a social signal that makes us feel good.

Twitter-

500 million tweets are sent on a daily basis,

people come back to the site in fear of missing out as new tweets are constantly pushed into their feed. Videos and GIF s auto play while you scroll through the timeline to keep you interacted to spend as much time possible on the account.

 

 

70 million images uploaded on Instagram every day,  Social comparison and self esteem increase. People compare themselves to assess feelings, strengths, weaknesses, abilities and perspectives of others. Having your social connections reaffirmed makes you feel good, many people often alter themselves on these account to portray them to look better or seem richer.

Advertising-

Advertising media has become common need of every business organisation today, and without advertising media, nobody can think about to survive in the market. There is no doubt about it that “Advertising” is a great force of promotions now regarded as an effective and profitable investment. A company which has to spend money, takes a proper care in planning advertising.

Unit One: Media Organisations

There are a number of different types of media, ranging from television to cinema, internet, radio, newspapers and magazines. I am going to look at some different types of media company and describe the activities they carry out.

Television-

The television is one of the most popular media organisations. TV organisations target audiences who enjoy watching and gaining a various bit of information from watching. Examples of TV companies include; Sky, BBC, and ITV. These are very well known companies. Like radios, television also has different channels, for example, the BBC have multiple radio and TV channels. Next, I am going to talk about the different TV channels seen in today’s media

.BBC-  The BBC, is also known as the ‘British Broadcasting Corporation’ it is a British public service broadcaster.

Its headquarters are located at the Broadcasting House in London and is the world’s oldest national broadcasting organisation. It is also the largest broadcaster in the world, the company has with a total of over 20,950 staff employed.

The BBC is famous for its variety of channels it has on offer on Freeview such as: BBC 1, 2, 3, 4, CBeebies, CBBC, BBC Parliament, BBC News and BBC Alba. The BBC have various successful television channels, and also have various influential radio stations that cater for a range of target audiences.

Sky- Sky UK Limited is a company which serves the United Kingdom. Sky provides television and broadband internet services for all areas of the United Kingdom. It was founded in November 1990 by Rupert Murdoch.

“Sky is Europe’s leading entertainment company. The group serves 22 million customers across five countries: Italy, Germany, Austria, the UK and Ireland. We offer the best and broadest range of content, deliver market-leading customer service and use innovative new technology to give customers a better TV experience, whenever and wherever they choose.” 

(Taken from the sky websites from what sky claim to offer as a company)

As a business, Sky operates Britain and Ireland’s largest portfolio of paid TV channels across entertainment, sports, movies and 24-hour news. SKY is one of the leading multimedia companies that are present in society, this is clear through looking at their impressive financial statistics with an operating profit of £1.5 billion, a revenue of £8.4 billion and a revenue growth of 7%. Moreover, the company has 12.4 million customers and a huge 40.3 million paid for subscription products.

ITV- ITV is a commercial TV network in the United Kingdom. It is also the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the Broadcasting Act of 1990, its legal name has been Channel 3, to set it apart from
the other analogue channels at the time, BBC 1, BBC 2 and Channel 4. ITV broadcasts a wide selection of content on its roster of free to air and pay channels, consisting o
f ITV, the biggest commercial television channel in the UK, and the digital channels including ITV2,3,4, ITV Encore, ITVBe and CITV. This family of channels attracted a total viewing audience of 21.2% in 2015, the largest audience of any UK commercial broadcaster. ITV has the largest share of the UK television advertising market at 46.1% in 2015.

 Radio-

Media comes from the word ‘medium’.  One of the meanings of the ‘medium’ is a means of mass communications: for example, radio is a form of mass communication.

The plural of medium is media, so media is lots of forms of mass communication. Up until around 20 years ago, ‘media’ referred to just a few means of communication.

Newspapers-

Newspapers are a critical part of the news landscape, but they have been hard hit as more and more people consume news digitally. The industry’s financial fortunes and subscriber base have been in decline since the early 2000s, even as website audience traffic has grown for many. Meanwhile, alt-weekly papers have also seen their circulation drop.  The Daily Telegraph is a broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was founded by Arthur B. Sleigh in 1855. Since 2004, it has been owned by David and Frederick Barclay. The paper had a circulation of 523,048 in March 2016, down from 1.4 million in 1980.  The Telegraph is widely regarded as one of the UK’s principal ‘newspapers of record’ and has been described by the BBC as being “the newspaper of the establishment”. They put information out about politics, science, entertainment and investigations. It also has an online version which is accessible through smart phones etc, this makes it more accessible to a wider audience within the media.

Magazines-

The magazine industry has always been a popular form of documentation for various adaptations of so called “gossip” articles and also information about various ways of becoming a “better you”. Many organisations are involved in more than just one product, for example, the well-known magazine publisher (as well as many other forms of media); Bauer Media UK. It is an entertainment network of influential brands who reach an audience of a total of 25 million consumers. Overall, the company has a very impressive media base containing various iconic names such as heat, KISS, Grazia, Empire, Motor Cycle News, Parkers, TV Choice, Take a Break, 
Bella, Magic and Absolute Radio.

As well as publishing magazines, Bauer also has networked with various radio stations such as Key 103, Heat radio and Kiss FM. To finalise my research on Bauer, I have come to the conclusion that it is a highly thought of company which thrives in the area of magazine publishing and production as well as having expertise in the area of radio broadcasting.

Media Ownership Types-

Some media organisations are private companies. These are businesses whose reason to be is to make money by entertaining people. They can be owned by one person or family or by lots of people who each have a share in the business (shareholders). Examples of large private companies are ITV, 21st Century Fox and Disney.

Private media companies can be large or small, employing anything from just one person to many thousands of people. Disney is an example of a large privately owned media business.

Publicly owned media companies are owned by the government on behalf of the people. They are sometimes referred to as ‘state’ broadcasters as they are part of the state or government. The BBC and Channel 4 are publicly owned broadcasters. In Ireland the state broadcaster is RTE who part produce Mrs Brown’s Boys with the BBC. In the UK and in Ireland, the government cannot interfere with the state broadcaster and cannot tell it what to report (unless there is a national emergency such as imminent nuclear war). In other countries such as Russia the government exerts a great deal of control over the state broadcaster.

In the UK both publicly owned broadcasters are ‘not for profit’. They do not make money for shareholders or owners. The BBC is paid for by the public with a licence fee. The money raised is used to pay for making programmes. Sales from selling ideas for TV shows abroad (e.g. Top Gear and Strictly Come Dancing) are also invested into programme making. Channel 4 raises funds from advertising to make programmes.

Privately owned media companies make money by selling the product to you (the purchase cost of the DVD, music or channel subscription) and advertising. This is used to cover the cost of making programmes and making a profit for the owners or shareholders.