Economics of the Mass Media Flashcards
What are the four media support systems?
- Audience
- Advertising
- Combination of Audience and Ads
- Subsidized
Audience
-money comes directly from users
-money is payed directly in store
Ex: going to a bookstore to buy a book
Advertising
-content delivered free to consumers and encourages people to buy the product
-advertisers are buying audiences
Ex: ad on a radio
Combination of Audience and Ads
Ex: buying a magazine with ads at a UCLA store
Ex: paying for a movie ticket that will have pre-screening ads
Subsidized
-private and public subsidies
-rich individuals may subsidize magazines because they support the opinions that are expressed
-government subsidies are public (Ex: NPR has public subsidies)
-private subsidies ex: corporate journal/magazine paid by the corporation to publish
What do advertisers want to know (2)?
- Size of audience (can be measured by how many units sold)
- Composition of audience
How does TV measure size and composition?
Measured through the Nielsen Company
How does the Nielsen Company measure?
-use people meters to develop statistics for (1)ratings and (2)shares
-people meter: a device that records each time you watch tv,by taking note of what you’re watching and minute-by-minute viewing
-draws a random sample of of 42,500 households in the US
-records demographic information
Rating
(number of tv households watching a specific show)/(total number of tv households in the US)
-gives you the absolute number of people that are watching a show
Share
(number of tv households watching a specific show)/(number of tv households with a tv on at that time)
-tells you how well a show is doing against competition
How does viewing impact ad cost?
The more people viewing a show, the more the ad will cost
Why will a late night comedy show have low ratings?
Because more people are sleeping
-it may have a high share
How frequently are ratings and shared generated?
Everyday
How are local markets measured?
Local markets are measured using a sweeps period
-sweeps months are November, February, May, and July
Network
a parent company responsible for coming up with shows, and sharing information with affiliated stations
How are sweeps measured?
By using a diary in which people record the show and time they watched tv
What is a downside of diaries used in sweeps measuring?
Inaccuracy with diaries because self recorded
-people make forget to fill them out, make rounding errors, lie about what they’re watching to seem socially involved, want a show to be more successful
How do sweeps months impact shows?
Networks will put on their best programs to generate larger audiences
-larger audience = more money
Ex: finales of reality shows appear in May
Ex: Celebrity appearances in shows
Problem with people meters
have to hit the button again when light begins to flash
-more accurate than sweeps so being moved into local markets
-Nielsen trying portable people meter, a clip that measures tv wherever you are
Compensation 3 (C3)
measures the viewing within 3 days of the broadcast
-Wednesday has highest rating
C7 and DVR Relationship
-with DVR people are delaying their viewing so networks are moving to C7
-C7 is more aggressive measuring because measure people who watched on air date and following 7 days
-ads are still watched with DVR playbacks because it is passive
-DVR is giving ratings a boost
-younger people more likely to record
What demographic Information is recorded for composition? (4)
- Geography: where are buyers/people watching the show
Ex: more frequent flyer commercials in big cities because more traveling occurs there - Age
Ex: Kellogs sold to children so more ads on kids channels - Sex
Ex: Revlon commercials won’t be shown as much on sports channels - Income
Ex: luxury car commercials common on classical music stations
Who mainly controls media?
Big corporations who are concerned with money and profit
How does media choose the content they share?
They minimize risk
