Business of Media
Business of Media
Introduction
The term business of media represents the trading of information for economic purposes. Media has evolved tremendously from the traditional newspaper to the present digital. Several examples of business of media are advertising, broadcast media, printing media, published media, social media and digital media. All these sources are used to generate revenue for the media companies, as well as a tool to convey information to the public (Croteau & Hoynes, 2007). Hence, this study addresses the evolution and impact of media in business.
The ancient media initially used to convey information for business was the newspapers. This evolution took place in the 16th Century, where the information was hand written and would be dropped to the readers at a cost. Later in the 17 century, these means became popular with printing technology. Business persons would print information and sell it to the readers (Croteau & Hoynes, 2007). Over the years, the newspaper began being used as a tool for advertising products and services by business; thus growing in the number of customers. This evolution has continued and currently the digital newspaper is popular due to wide use of internet. Example is the New York Times.
Television network was first developed in 1928, where it was used to broadcast news of the world war, and was owned by the rich. After a series of mass production, several homes had the television sets in America, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union. This facilitated the spread of information about the world, and products in the markets were advertised through these media. The prevalence use of the internet in the 1990 resulted into the rapid growth of social media and online marketing for organizations. This facilitated globalization, which favored businesses of media.
The business of media has positive influences in society. One is by conveying information to the citizens. It also assists the interaction of persons within its platform, where discussions are held to share information (Croteau & Hoynes, 2007). It also brings out hidden information to the public as well as discovers new talents, especially in business. Thus, the business of media has brought the world together and enhanced globalization.
The disadvantage experienced in the business of media is lack of transparency and honesty in some of the information given. This could cause a lot of harm than good. The strategies implied could be of harm to the society, especially children. The cost incurred in transitioning the media channels to stay relevant in the market is quite high, especially because the transitions are frequently occurring.
Discussion
Advertising is a marketing strategy that lures the audience to take the ideas being conveyed and implement them. The introduction of modern advertising began in the 19th century with the use of paintings to advertise products (Clow & Baack, 2007). The paintings were accompanied with slogans and phrases, which bore the information about the contents of the advertisement. Later, the advertisement was introduced to the newspapers where the products would be included. The advertisers would then have to pay for their advertisements so as to be featured in newspapers. This was a business opportunity for the media because they could reduce the prices of newspapers and increase their sales.
The development of advertising significantly began in the 20th century. The advancement from the print advertisement began with the invention of the radio. This occurred around the 1920’s. There was the need for introducing new radio stations, which were used to inform the public. However, they needed facilitators for some of their programs, and this is where businesses took the opportunities to sponsor the shows, and in turn their offerings would be advertised. The introduction of the television was at the time of the Second World War. The broadcast were required to offer non-commercial public advertisement for enlightening the public. It was during the war that the advertisement on the affairs of the war was made mandatory. After this period, televisions began holding shows, and they were lacking in funding. In the 1950’s, DuMont Television Network introduced the practice of selling time on the television network for advertising to many companies (Clow & Baack, 2007). This became a standard in America leading to increased television advertising.
With the developments in technology, the advertisement media also increased. There was use of printing magazines and the use of photos to advertise. The introduction of cable television in the 1980 had led to the emergence of channels dedicated to advertising such as the Home shopping Network (Hutchby, 2006). Therefore, the introduction of the internet changed the advertisement strategy for companies. This was through the introduction of websites that contained company’s details. The platform increases interactivity between the customers and businesses, and has continued to grow with pop up advertisements in web pages.
Several organizations have counted loses because of negative advertising or negative influence on advertising. For instance, a company like Pepsi used a slogan in that did not go well with Chinese culture, leading to great loses. The slogan said “Come Alive. You are in the Pepsi Generation.” This advert was caused by an error in translation from English to Chinese. The Chinese respect their dead and they felt the advertisement offended the dead. Advertising requires that a company be well acquainted with the target market. Other companies that suffered negative advertising include iParents, Pepsi, Mc Donalds and Gotham Concierge who spent many funds in advertising, but the intention failed.
Movies over the years have experienced a significant growth in the audience. This is through the diversity introduced to themes and genres of movies targeting all ages. Movies have also been developed to embrace all religions and culture; thus growing in the number of viewers. The effect of movies varies due to its contents. The movies also generate employment for a variety of staff who works in the production and those who sell the movies. It has provided entertainment, which allows people to relax and forget their worries. Movies also help to educate the viewers with relevant positive message.
Movies also have a negative impact when produced and used wrongly. Movies can be used to spread false information and propaganda that may affect a specific community or the state. Several movies have been banned due to their content, which attacked the government such as the Evil Dead and Natural born Killers. Movies can affect the lifestyle of people with them trying to emulate what they see in dressing, feeding and actions, which are not necessarily good. Movies can insight violence by showing too much violence scenes and murder scenes. This can affect the young minds, which assimilate the information. An example of these movies is A Serbian Film, Grotesque, and Cannibal Holocaust.
Movies can be used in business to promote business directly or indirect. This is by using products in the movies. An example is Transformers, which promote cars such as Chevrolet Camaro; acted by Mark Wahlberg. The viewers will see the capabilities of the car and be interested in purchasing (Hutchby, 2006). Another business advertising strategy is by using locations that advertise businesses. They include hotels and casinos such as McDonalds and the Hilton. The use of products in movies also advertises them such as body oils like Nivea, drinks such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Businesses that have experienced growth include Apple products, Pepsi, Mc Donalds, and the Hilton hotel.
Social media is a platform that allows people to interact, create and share information and ideas virtually. It is built through the internet and the websites. In 1978, two computer geniuses built a bulletin board system that would inform friends of meetings and make announcements regarding their group, as well as share other information. Later on, Usenet, which was like the bullet board, was connected to the University of North Carolina and Duke University (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). In 1984, the prodigy online service was introduced, and it grew extensively. In 1994, prodigy initiated the dial up connections of the World Wide Web and created a hosting platform where people would interact as long as one was connected. In 1993, CERN donated the World Wide Website technology to the world, and it was used to develop the present platforms. Several sites have been opened up to facilitate social networking and they include; facebook, twitter, Google +, friendster, Flicker, My Space among others (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).
Social networking has been embraced greatly by the society, and is one of the most used media platform. It has increased the connectivity of people by allowing exchange of information. It has also been used for business purposes to market products. Social media offers accessibility to educational materials through social platforms, such as Christian groups on facebook that encourage each other. An example is the Women of Destiny. The negative impact of social media is the spread of rumors, where information is unregulated. There are occurrences of online bullying where people abuse others, which is not right. Children have accessed pornography sites without restrictions due to availability of these sites, and the parents do not authenticate.
Social networking can be used as a platform to market products. Through the media, sales can be made, and clients outsourced (Chiang & Chung, 2011). A good number of business growths have been facilitated by facebook, where businesses have created pages that sell their product and provide location for accessibility. Service companies also market their product online offering a number for accessibility incase a client needs their service. Companies that have succeeded because of social media include Frozzo, Mc Donalds, General Motors, Victoria Secret, Star bucks among others.
In 2012 survey by state of media showed that facebook had 901 million users globally (Robert, 2011). The research by Social media in business showed that more than 60% of adults use online social sites (Robert, 2011). This growth is attributed to the ease of use and ability to talk with others instead of getting lonely. The number of children using the social sites is less and below half due to parent monitoring as compared to adults who are free to use whichever site they want to.
Conclusion
Business media is a form that enhances the growth of business if used well, and can also cause the decline of the business if not well strategized. Use of media is a simple way to reach to a wide range of clients, as it is an effective tool in business. Through advertising an online sale platform, it is easier to reach a wider market. Improvement in technology has advanced shipment of product and movement of people. Business media must be safeguarded from fraudsters so that it will be a transparent media for business. Businesses must also create great strategies when venturing to media to avoid loses.
References
Chiang, I., & Chung, H. (2011). Exploring the impact of blog marketing on consumers. Journal on Social Behavior and Personality 39 (9): 1245.
Clow, E., & Baack, D. (2007). Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 3(1), 165-171.
Croteau, D., & Hoynes, W. (2007). The Business of Media: Corporate media and the Public Interest. New York: Sage Publications, 204-213.
Hutchby, I. (2006). Media Talk Conversation Analysis and the Study of Broadcasting. Berkshire: Open University Press, 5.
Kaplan, M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horizons, 53(1), 67.
Robert, M. (2011). The Policy Science of Social Media. Policy Studies Journal, 39(4), 709-736.
