Ownership and Funding in the Television and Film Industries 

Ownership: Vertical Integration

Vertical integration is an example of ownership. It is the process of buying out the industry and controlling the process. Distributors and suppliers are managed by one company, this maybe because the company's capacity in the marketplace has expanded. It is used to acquire power of the industry's volume chain. There are three types of vertical integration, forward integration, backward integration and balanced integration. Forward integration is when a company involves itself with the next couple of industries after it in the process. The sectors which the company has taken over had originally been a different company. Now the different processes are owned by the same company. This type of integration is effective when the company has a sufficient amount of resources to run the new business, or the industry is predicted to notably get bigger. Backward integration is when a company takes over the earlier parts of the process of a service or product. This method of integration is good for when the price of inputs are unstable or other suppliers are undependable.

Advantages of vertical integration: 

• lower costs because market transaction costs are gone
• Important resources are acquired through VI 
• Greater market share 
• Quality of supplies improved       

Disadvantages of vertical integration: 

• Because of the absence of competition in supplies and distribution channels the quality in product or services may decline 
• Company may face legal action if it becomes an monopoly due to its massive size.  

Time Warner is an example of a ownership that uses vertical integration.

Ownership: Horizontal Integration

Horizontal integration is a type of ownership which merges similar company's that produce similar products or services. The meaning of this integration is to expand the company in size, minimize the competition and stop the entry of new competition. Hostile takeovers, acquisitions and mergers can cause horizontal integration. A merger is when two companies of the same size merge together to create one organization. Acquisitions is when a company purchases another company. Hostile take over is when a company which does not want to be taken over is acquisition-ed. 

Advantages of horizontal integration:

• Manufacture more services and products 
• Increases market power 
• Decrease in competition
• Opening to new markets/ different regions 

Disadvantages of horizontal integration :

• Legal consequences because of lack of competition
• Transformation in the market is less frequent due to the large size of the company and its decrease in flexibility.   

Rupert Murdoch s news corporation empire is an example of horizontal integration.       

Ownership: Monopoly 

A monopoly is when one group or company owns or has entire control of their market. Laws are set up so that company's cannot have complete control of their market.

Funding: Product Placement

Product placement is a form of funding and is when company's promote their products or services through the appearances of media like music videos, film and television.This method of advertising is non-traditional. Manufacturers and media organisations will come to agreement on product placement. The company will pay the media organization to use their product in the film or television show. 

The film "The Island" by Micheal Bay is well known for its product placement. Products such as Budweiser, Xbox and puma show up. 

   

In the UK products such as cigarettes, alcohol, gambling, unhealthy foods and weapons cannot be used as product placement. Ofcom is in charge of what products can be placed on what shows at what time. If there is a product placement in a UK program then the TV channel must show a certain logo. This is to inform that company's have paid the makers of the show to include products in the program. 

The logo looks like this :

 

Funding: License

A television licence is needed for any household where television programs are being watched as they are broadcast. This includes satellite cable and internet. In the UK the cost for a color TV license is £145.50 and for a black and white TV licence it is £49.00. The licence fee pays for some of the BBC television channels, radio stations and internet services like iplayer. It means that the BBC has no advertisements and free from shareholder and political views. 

Research Methods and Techniques 

Secondary Research, Quantitative 

Box office figures or a form of quantitative research. The research is also secondary since the data has previously been collected and done by someone else. The website box office mojo is "an online movie publication and box office reporting service". They analyse the box office statistics and report on how certain films are doing at the box office  around different parts of the world. They will also compare films box office ratings and how much they made in the first twenty- four hours, weekend, week and month.   

This is a box office weekend index from box office mojo:

Secondary Research, Qualitative

A film review is a qualitative piece of research. It can be in the form of print or web based. The review is an evaluation and sometimes an opinion. The film review can come from a professional critic or from an normal individual. IGN (Imagine Games Network) is the place where you will find the review from a professional critic. The website mete-critic is where everybody can put their review of a film.

       

Primary Research , Quantitative

I created a survey which was to find out what 16-24 year olds are watching on TV and at the cinema. I got nine complete surveys back, four of them from girls and five them from boys.  

This pie chart shows what genre is most often watched by 16-24 year olds.

This bar chart shows which genre is most often watched at the cinema by 16-24 year olds.

Primary Research, Qualitative

Internet forums or message boards is where an online discussion takes place. People can post comments about certain topics and exchange opinions. However on most forums or comments section people may stay anonymous. This an example of comment section from the website "reddit", people are giving their opinion on a certain video.

    

Propose a Media Product the College could make for Either their TV or Film company 

My media product for the college to make would be a TV mini series called "college freaks". It will be about the life of three separate college students who don't know each other. It will basically be in the form of a fake documentary. The genre will be a dark comedy and the all characters will be played by actors. The series will actually be set in Newcastle college campus. 

Audience Research 

The typical example of the audience that will be watching the mini series will be a 16-20 year old male or female who is in the social grade of E,D and C2. They will most likely live in suburbia and not make a lot of money. This individual will be constantly on social networks and will watch a lot of television most likely soaps in spare time.. The person did not go to higher education and has an unhealthy diet. The person watching will most likely be in the north or  north east of England due to the certain dialogue of the film.

Market Research

When doing research I have founded out that there will be competition among over TV shows. There are TV shows which also are set in school or college and have student and teachers as characters. A competitor would be the TV show "Waterloo Road". The show has been out six years longer and has a dedicated fan base. Hopefully some of that market will convert to my series due to the better comedy. Advertising for the show will be on NCTV channel as well as social network sites like Facebook, twitter and YouTube. The reason I have picked this advertising placement is because that is where most of my target audience spend their time. 

Production Research

For the TV series I will need the correct personnel. Production manager to make sure that filming is on schedule and that we don't go over budget. A producer who controls things such as funding and hiring personnel. Director to be in-charge of the creative factors of the show. 

Costume designer who will make sure that all clothes warn by the actors especially the three main characters are up to date with the recent fashion and trends. Also to make the actors look like believable college students. Director of photography or cinematographer will make sure that the shots are what the director wants them to look like. Will make decisions on lighting and framing of shots. Will have to make sure that certain classrooms and areas on campus will be free to shoot. Some locations within the college will be occupied due to actual lessons.       

From the research above I have concluded that my media product is very suitable for my target audience and the college TV company to show. 

References

Bbc.co.uk. 2012. BBC - Film Network - FilmMaking - Guide - Funding. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide/before-you-start/funding#sources [Accessed: 12 Dec 2013].

Boxofficemojo.com. 1999. About Box Office Mojo. [online] Available at: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/about/?ref=ft [Accessed: 13 Dec 2013].

BusinessDictionary.com. n.d. What is Product Placement? definition and meaning. [online] Available at: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/product-placement.html [Accessed: 12 Dec 2013].

Consumers.ofcom.org.uk. 2011. Ofcom | Product placement on TV. [online] Available at: http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2011/02/product-placement-on-tv/ [Accessed: 12 Dec 2013].

Jurevicius, O. 2013. Horizontal integration: definition, examples, advantages | SM Insight. [online] Available at: http://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/topics/horizontal-integration.html [Accessed: 12 Dec 2013].

Mudhar, R. 2013. The Netflix-ication of all media | Toronto Star. [online] Available at: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2013/10/16/the_netflixication_of_all_media.html [Accessed: 12 Dec 2013].

Tvlicensing.co.uk. 2013. TV Licensing - TV Licence types and costs. [online] Available at: http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/tv-licence-types-and-costs-top2/ [Accessed: 12 Dec 2013].

YouTube. 2000. Michael Bay LOVES Product Placement (The Island). [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeVQwomIgjs [Accessed: 12 Dec 2013].

By Callum Mitchell