Audiovisual economics: Audiovisual markets in the European Union

Focusing on economic aspects of audiovisual industries, this article analyses some of the key EU policy initiatives affecting the sector –the AVMS Directive; the MEDIA Programme; competition and state aid for PSB; and also media ownership and pluralism– in the context of changing technologies and changing markets in Europe. It is notable that the policy ambitions surrounding audiovisual media are varied and do not always pull in the same direction. This article examines the threats and opportunities caused by digitisation and new value chain configurations but argues that conflicting agendas remain a substantive challenge for policy-making at EU lev

Resistance of channels: television distribution in the multiplatform era

This article focuses on distribution of television and, using BBC Three as a case study, provides an in-depth examination of how broadcasters’ strategies for packaging and distributing content are being re-considered in response to newly emerging patterns of audience behaviour and demand. It considers the extent to which the role of the broadcast channel – traditionally the main vector via which audiences have enjoyed television content - may now be threatened by the rise of online rivals and accompanying pressures to adjust to a digital multiplatform environment. Drawing on the experience of BBC Three, the research question it asks is: to what extent is there an economic justification for switching from ‘the channel’ as the distribution format to an online-only service? The original findings presented are based on analysis of the finances of BBC Three, on evidence gathered through a series of in-depth interviews carried out with senior executives at the BBC, and on analysis of secondary source data and public policy statements and performance reviews. They provide an empirically based contribution to knowledge about how growth of the internet is prompting public service suppliers of media to reconsider and adjust their strategies for distribution of television content and, more generally, to understanding of contemporary strategies for re-invention and survival in the television industry

From television to multi-platform: less from more or more for less?

This article examines economic aspects of convergence and of multi-platform expansion in the media sector. Focusing on television broadcasters in the UK, it analyses the recent migration of conventional media towards multi-platform strategies and asks whether digitization is making content delivery more resource–intensive than before or whether it is facilitating greater efficiency. Findings suggest that adaptation to a multi-platform outlook on the part of conventional media requires investment in staffing and re-versioning of content. Funding this, especially in a period of economic downturn, has encouraged a more selective approach towards content, with concomitant implications for diversity. Notwithstanding generally low commercial returns from online activities so far, the potential economic advantages to be had from multi-platform are significant. The experience of UK broadcasters suggests a well-executed ‘360-degree’ approach to commissioning and distribution will increase the value that can be realized from any given universe of content, partly because of extended opportunities for consumption of that content, but also because modes of engagement in a digital multi-platform context allow for an improved audience experience and for better signalling of audience preferences back to suppliers

Managing global expansion of media products and brands: A case study of FHM

By focusing on the case study of For Him Magazine (FHM)—a magazine that currently sells in 30 editions across 5 continents—this article explores the economics and main managerial challenges associated with global expansion of media products. The success of FHM demonstrates that, to calculate the full returns available from the brand image created by a magazine title, publishers will take into account not only opportunities for domestic and international exploitation of the magazine, but also the potential to extend the brand across additional media platforms and additional complementary product markets. This study focuses on how global expansion of FHM has been managed

Creative economy and policy

The challenges currently facing systems of media provision across Europe require critical, multi-disciplinary research informed by creative economy and policy perspectives. Creative economy themes of relevance to media include the exceptional economic characteristics of cultural and creative content, production activities and markets. The use and efficacy of copyright and alternative policy interventions to support creativity represent important emerging areas for media-related research. The effects of changing technology are another priority. More research is needed that builds our critical understanding of the implications of contemporary changes in audience behaviour, of converged multi-platform strategies for supplying content and of globalised distribution for creative outputs

Television and the development of the data economy: data analysis, power and the public interest

Data analysis is steadily becoming more central to management decision-making in media organizations across the globe. The reliance of subscription video on demand (SVoD) services, such as Netflix, on data analytics to underpin decisions about new content investment is well-established. However, what are the key opportunities and challenges facing the rest of the television industry? This article examines how data analysis is facilitating improved methods of personalization and more effective intelligence about the relative appeal of content for differing audience segments. But growing reliance on big data also raises a number of critical public interest questions. This article highlights how data is now a key source of competitive advantage in the television industry and a resource that can be monopolized. It argues that media policy-making needs to pay more attention to the emergence and implications of asymmetries of power in relation to ownership and use of data in managerial decision-making

Multi-platform media and the miracle of the loaves and fishes

Drawing on findings from our Economic and Social Research Council-funded research project which investigates how media companies have made the journey from being single sector to digital multi-platform suppliers of content, this article identifies some of the key managerial and economic challenges and opportunities involved in making that transition. It argues that the current migration towards multi-platform has altered not just media industry processes and output but, more fundamentally, it has re-configured the ways in which content is now being conceptualised by media managers. Multi-platform strategies have encouraged a vast expansion in the volumes of media content supplied and made available to media audiences at a time when, generally, the production budgets of media organisations have been tightly constrained. This article considers critically the question of how the transition to a multi-platform environment has facilitated such abundance in output and an apparently miraculous increase in levels of productivity across the media industry. It questions the implications for content and for policy of an ever-growing commitment to multi-platform strategies