Lecture Reflection: Lecture 6

Lecture 6: Commercial Media

  'Advertisers are the real consumers of a commercial media organisation, not its readers, viewers or listeners'

Above are some of the big names in commercial media as far as broadcasters and distributors of our media goes. The FOX network being the heaving weight of all commercial media with our 'Uncle Rupert Murdoch' at its reins. The big names above are responsible for what programs we watch during prime time, which ones capture a nation and send ratings through the roof and exactly what barges its way through our eyes and ears into our minds. But what or who is behind the networks, particularly those that are free to air? 
Looking back to our lecture on the New News and the Semantic Web the answer becomes unequivocally clear... THE ADVERTISERS!

From commercial radio, television, film and online media, the money behind the screen or speakers are the advertising giants who ever so expertly utilise our viewing of popular shows to bombard us with their brand. However cynical many may be about this almost unconscious consumerism, it is the way it is and it perpetuates the public feeling of entitlement to their free to air TV and so forth. 

Commercial media is profit driven, where shows will either make or break depending on how many people watch and take in the ads. It simply relies on the business of generating audiences. Commercial media is not traditionally funded by the government or license funded (unlike public media) although in recent times heads have been turned at government money being thrown at commercial media, particularly TV to keep it free to air; namley Stephen Conroy's licence fee rebate.

Some of the major players behind each individual network are as follows:

• News Limited
• Fairfax
• APN
• Nine Entertainment Network
• TEN
• WIN
• Telstra
• Optus
• Maquarie
• AuStar

All of these key players have their share of the pie that is commercial media and its various businesses. News Limited for example, is heavily involved in newspapers, magazines, cable TV, films, books and sports. Big money comes from the commercial television area of their involvement in particular with '20th Century Fox' releasing major blockbusters. The advertisers will pay to have their brand aired on the cable TV networks but what about the other assets in Murdoch’s empire? Rupert Murdoch's take in the newspaper industry does not turn a large profit for the company, in fact Murdoch's infatuation with 'The Courier Mail' and 'The Australian', for example are upheld because of his own agenda and the power he has to sway or narrow public opinion.

 Fairfax is another great example of the scope of commercial media and what advertisers will pay to be involved in. As well as their involvement largely in digital media and newspapers 'Sydney Morning Herald', 'The Age', 'Brisbane Times' and 'Financial Review', Fairfax also own social networking site 'RSVP.com' and career such engine 'Mycareer.com'. This opens up a whole other spectrum in which advertisers can target specific audiences, bringing us back to the idea of hyper-localisation specific advertising.

Away from Murdoch's empire of subscription television, commercial media reaches its wide audience with free to air TV via networks such as the Nine Entertainment Network and Seven West Media. This free to air television works under a different structure than that of public media, which of course also doesn’t charge for viewing. The form of commercial media is always either subscription based, sponsored or subsidised, this enables its function to reach audiences through commercial viewing, influence public opinion with various propaganda and take part in the social side of media.

With all of our commercial media caught up in their business with the advertising giants, and our viewing simply being eyes and ears for the advertisers to influence, can our commercial media be unbiased and untainted? Can commercial media work fairly and successfully in a democratic society? The balance of trust between the public and the media is delicate! There is a supposed ethical wall that sits between the commercial functions of media and advertising and sales, so as not to taint the trust one puts in the media’s accuracy and fairness. However, how efficient this structure could be is questionable. I could simply site Gina Rinehart’s battle and berating of the Fairfax board for her extra seats, to what purpose one might ask, other than to have more influence.

When looking at the target audience of commercial media, we can clearly see how their product is styled to suit that audience. Three key characteristics of commercial media are the 'dumbing down' of content, the 'desire' to please the audience and advertisers and tabloidization (as seen with the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times and Financial Review.) This differs greatly from the 'good old days' when the link between media content and sales was blurred and not able to be measured by mouse clicks. Quality news used to be what captured the audiences and the advertiser’s respectively, upholding the integrity of news and media. Nowadays, the story goes profit over quality and plays up to the 'Mickey Mouse' style of news to cater to the masses and where their mouse desires to click.

It’s not all bad news for commercial media though; some organisations are taking to 'expanding the public sphere' through mediums such as blogs and more social media to keep the advertisers keen and wallets thick. One of my favourite news outlets that uphold this new way of working commercial media is 'The Global Mail’. The Global Mail uses commercially trained journalists, many from a television background to deliver their very demographic appropriate news. It is currently funded by experience sales group Whatif.com without the support of advertisers. I believe their tagline puts it beautifully in respect to how commercial media and advertising are currently working:

The Global Mail: "Our only agenda is our audience"