Functional values and brand personality: The perception of consumers and media professionals in six European countries

The process of consolidation and concentration in the business of traditional media in Western countries was fed by the global financial crisis during the last three years. We argue that after the global financial crisis, branding and differentiation from competitors is becoming even more important. Traditional media need more effort in managing their brands. Our leading research question is: “What functional values and personality do different media brands represent in the minds of media consumers and media professionals in different European countries?” Useful theoretical background to further develop this research problem can be found in literature on journalism cultures and the functions of the media, as well as brand management in the media industry. To answer our research question, we conducted a survey in six big metropolitan areas: Berlin (N=741), Copenhagen (N=749), London (N=740), Paris (N=741), Rome (N=738), and Zurich (N=748). We asked media consumers what purpose their favourite newspaper and favourite TV news programme serves (functional value) and what personality items best fit the image they have of their favourite media brand. The same questions were asked media managers and senior editors (N=58) in the respective areas. ANOVA tests reveal significant differences among all six areas. Our results show that considerably more than consumers, media professionals see their brands in the light of traditional functions of journalism. Moreover, we found some evidence that the perception of functional values and brand personality in the UK is different from all other countries

Ökonomische Bedingungen publizistischer Vielfalt - Eine theoretische Modellierung und Fuzzy Set Analyse der Beziehung von Wettbewerb und Produktdifferenzierung in europäischen Zeitungsmärkten

Die Arbeit geht der zentralen Frage nach, ob in einem Mediensystem unter marktwirtschaftlichen Bedingungen publizistische Angebotsvielfalt entstehen kann. Im theoretischen Teil werden mittels Potenzialanalyse und im empirischen Teil mittels Fuzzy Set Analysen die ökonomischen Bedingungen publizistischer Vielfalt identifiziert. Strategische Produktdifferenzierung als Voraussetzung publizistischer Vielfalt wird in Beziehung zu Wettbewerb und organisationaler Ressourcenallokation gesetzt. Die theoretische Einbindung der Marktverhaltensdimension und die empirische Überprüfung der Modellannahmen anhand von fsQCA führen dazu, dass vorherrschende Annahmen zum Zusammenhang von Wettbewerb und Vielfalt zu hinterfragen sind

The relationship of competition and financial commitment revisited: A fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis in European newspaper markets

Research generally supported a positive effect of competition intensity on financial commitment into news production within U.S. markets. The authors test this assumption across European newspaper markets by applying fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis. Although oligopolistic too, European newspaper markets reveal a somewhat different pattern. The market condition “high number of competitors” in combination with “high competition intensity” is a sufficient condition for financial commitment across the different markets in this study

Forecasting media market development

This paper gives an outlook about the development of the Swiss media industry in the coming years. The outlook is based on two cornerstones: the economic development as the basis of a media system within a market economy and the social function of media within modern democracies. A two-tier research design is used to forecast the present development. First, ARIMA forecasting of audience demand and advertising expenditures depict the economic development on the base of secondary data. Second, scenario analysis using focus groups of industry representatives are introduced to predict the economic development as well as the role of the media within society. The results from the ARIMA forecasting show a grim outlook for the press both with regard to audience and advertising demand. On the other hand demand for electronic media is stable or even growing in the case of internet use. Apart from broadcasting the industry representatives do not view regulation of media as a crucial factor of the industry development. But every focus group identified the funding and as such the economic base as a key dimension. As such the results from both analyses can be partly integrated with the ARIMA forecasts helping to assess the probability of the different scenarios depicted by the industry representatives. With regard to the functional role of the media within society all the representative point to the state and in particular the public broadcaster that should cater for the public value