Online Media: Zoella Industry Flashcards
Introduction to Zoella
Zoella is a pseudonym for popular British blogger, vlogger, and YouTuber Zoe Sugg
Fashion and lifestyle content
2 YouTube channels; Zoella, and MoreZoella
Impact of recent technological change
The creation and distribution of online media is more demographic
This means that the general public can create and distribute their own products without the need for professional organisational involvement
Change in the way modern audiences consume media
Audiences now have a vast array of options to choose from
They pick and choose who and what to engage with
Content distributed online may be biased, inaccurate and highly competitive
User generated content
Material created by everyday users of media platforms rather than professionals working for media organisations
Economic contexts of the online media industry
Channels of vlogs with a large number of subscribers like Zoella’s can be economically lucrative due to the amounts of web traffic generated
What are MCNs (multi channeled networks)?
Organisations that look after high volume content creators such as Zoella, regarding promoting, marketing, and monetising.
In return, they get a large percentage of the creators advertising revenue
Monetisation
The process through which a product or service is converted into a source of revenue
YouTube has recently put heavy restrictions on content creators who can only claim revenue through YouTube if they have a total watch time of 4000 hours in the past year
How does advertising generate economic viability for Zoella
The ads can be displayed as banners at the top or side of the home page
Video ads can appear before, after or during a video
Relevant advertising is often targeted to match tastes and interests of users
Why would Zoella be the ideal social media influencer to endorse products?
The endorsement of mass digital influencers like Zoella can have a significant effect on sales due to the potential demographic that can be reached
This encourages companies to pay bloggers and vloggers substantial sums of money, making digital influencing a lucrative career
Diversification: what products did Zoella have that helped maximise the brand?
Aswell as her beauty range of bath soaks and shower gels, she sells other items aswell;
Clothing such as branded t shirts, hoodies, caps, and beanies, along with accessories such as phone cases, pop sockets and key rings
How does merchandise enable brand recognition and maximise audiences?
Merchandise features a logo, slogan or catchphrase that is closely related to the influencer, and so builds brand recognition
Book publishing is a new area that creators move into, which targets a new audience and maximises their potential audiences
Zoella published 3 books from the ‘Girl Online’ series
How did Zoella maximise audiences by moving into different industries?
-Sugg Life (hoodies and jumpers in collaboration with her brother Joe Sugg)
-Zoella Beauty Products (bath soaks and scrubs that were heavily available in shops such as Superdrug and WHSmiths)
-ColourPop (makeup palette and other makeup products)
Regulation by Livingstone and Lunt
There has been an underlying struggle within regulation in whether to protect the interests of the consumer by protecting them from harmful content, or to offer range, value for money and variety.
The increase of digital technologies have put traditional approaches to media regulation at risk
Struggles in regulating online media
Due to the vast number of websites, blog and videos posted every day, actively regulating and controlling this is a major challenge
This is largely down to the wide variety of different sources and platforms
Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP)
Responsible for writing and maintaining the advertising codes
Supports the industry by helping them get their ads right before publishing them through providing guidance, pre publication advice and training
