The Characteristics of Media Goods and the Media Economics Structure
The Characteristics of Media Goods and the Media Economics Structure
Introduction
Media is, to a large extent, a complex industry covering comprehensive areas, ranging from business operation to creative ideas. However, at a fundamental level, the study of media economics mainly focuses on the main players of the industry: companies, consumers as well as the environment. That is to say, the media economy can help us analyze and understand the relations among the producers, viewers, advertisers, government and community. This essay will be divided into three aspects: characteristics of media goods, characteristics of media market and the structure of media industry.
Characteristics of media goods
According to Doyle (2002), Media goods are also known as the cultural products. Media goods have the non-material essence that the value of media products is not a one-time use. When the media and cultural products are bought and sold, the value of the products is the content that is immaterial and will not be consumed. For example, when a DVD is purchased as an object, the demand of consumer is the music or film that is a non-material signal conveyed by material. Doyle (2002) also claimed that media good could also be considered as the public goods because the content of media products will not be consumed and reduced. The same content will be provided over and over again to other consumers. These kinds of media products do not meet the scarcity of media theory (Doyle, 2002).
On the other hand, personally speaking, some products meet the scarcity of media theory. According to Picard (2005), there are two main types of media products and services based on the media content creation that are single creation products and continuous creation products. Single creation products are always one-off distinctively designed content and the creativeness is the core value of them. If the consumption of media products to consumers is a single creation products, the
Introduction
Media is, to a large extent, a complex industry covering comprehensive areas, ranging from business operation to creative ideas. However, at a fundamental level, the study of media economics mainly focuses on the main players of the industry: companies, consumers as well as the environment. That is to say, the media economy can help us analyze and understand the relations among the producers, viewers, advertisers, government and community. This essay will be divided into three aspects: characteristics of media goods, characteristics of media market and the structure of media industry.
Characteristics of media goods
According to Doyle (2002), Media goods are also known as the cultural products. Media goods have the non-material essence that the value of media products is not a one-time use. When the media and cultural products are bought and sold, the value of the products is the content that is immaterial and will not be consumed. For example, when a DVD is purchased as an object, the demand of consumer is the music or film that is a non-material signal conveyed by material. Doyle (2002) also claimed that media good could also be considered as the public goods because the content of media products will not be consumed and reduced. The same content will be provided over and over again to other consumers. These kinds of media products do not meet the scarcity of media theory (Doyle, 2002).
On the other hand, personally speaking, some products meet the scarcity of media theory. According to Picard (2005), there are two main types of media products and services based on the media content creation that are single creation products and continuous creation products. Single creation products are always one-off distinctively designed content and the creativeness is the core value of them. If the consumption of media products to consumers is a single creation products, the
References: Albarran, A.B (2002) Media Economics: Understanding Markets, Industries and Concepts, (2nd ed), Blackwell. Doyle, G. (2002) Understanding Media Economics, London: Sage. Picard R.G. (2005) ‘Unique Characteristics and Business Dynamics of Media Products’ Journal of Media Business Studies 2(2):61-69. The Numbers, (2009) Market Share for Each Distributor in 2009 [online] Available from: [Accessed 16 November 2010] The Numbers, (2010) Movie Budgets [online] Available from: [Accessed 16 November 2010]