Scope and Areas of Work
Now a day’s media industries are heavily dependent on technology for the creation, distribution and exhibition of various forms of media content through various media channels. Therefore, the change in technology affects the economic processes between and within the media industries, which is a great concern to study.
The study of media economics in communication studies is gaining a lot of attention these days because it prepares media practitioners for more complete engagement with the technological changes taking place in media industry, regulatory actions affecting the ownership pattern of media organizations and the advent of new global markets.
Media Economics is a multidisciplinary field of study having a wide scope for the graduates from the fields of Communication, Economics, Commerce, Social Sciences, and Management. The field of media economics offers great scope for young scholars to understand and study the globalization of media contents, the rise and growth of international and national media conglomerates, various accounting practices and regulatory structures different from country to country to combat the challenges created by globalization, to investigate and examine global financial data to have an idea of how media companies compete and operate in global and domestic markets for audience share and advertiser revenues.
Changes in demography and other aspects of society also affect the media industries and ultimately, the media economics. Media content is often created with the desire to reach global audiences, so consumer tastes and preferences are critical in understanding audience needs and wants. Here, communication is a key tool that media economists use to understand social and cultural environment by focusing on each and every aspect of the social and cultural life of a nation, which widely affect all the process of economic developments in the society. The approach is to understand the insatiable appetite of audiences for media-related content and services.
The scope of media economics is tremendous. It offers an excellent opportunity to communication scholars having a background in economics, commerce, management and social sciences along with communication to study how media institutions in transitional societies can best manage the communication activities and tools to facilitate economic modernization.
There is a peculiarly intimate relationship between the economic and communication process. Media economics provides a new approach to understand the shifts in audience composition and makeup which is essentially important for media industry to develop media contents having an appeal to a new cadre of unique and different audiences. Media economics is a promising field within the broad discipline of social and economic sciences dealing with the relationship between the mass media and commerce.
Today, most media industries function in a dual-product market place. Media organizations produce and supply information and entertainment products that are consumed or demanded by audiences. The dual-product market place is a unique characteristic of the media industries, allowing for separate transactions and potential revenue streams from both audiences and advertisers. Media firms try to strategically position their content so as to maximize potential revenues.
Nature of the Job
Having a Degree or Diploma in Communication/Media Studies along with a broad understanding of economics and commerce can offer you a range of communication activities to work as a link between media and business practices. As a media economist one can work for various media organizations to study how media organizations generate positive cash flow (revenues less expenses, depreciation, taxes, and interest) to increase the value of their market positions.
One can also find immense scope for studying the processes of branding. Branding is a key concept in media economics. Media economics offers young communication graduates having an understanding of business and commerce to study how media companies use branding as a way to build awareness and identity connected with content products. Most audiences and advertisers recognize brands, and larger media companies have invested billions of rupees to develop and acquire different brands. As a Brand Analyst you can work for media firms to study how brands perform in a heavily competitive market environment.
As a media economist you can also work as a Cost Analyst to study and design cost-effective strategies for various horizontal and vertical media markets. As a media economics policy maker you also have an opportunity to understand the composition of various media industries and their mergers and acquisitions.
Media industries depend on talented technical, creative and managerial personnel to function effectively. Personnel represent the greatest single expense for any organization. In the media industries, trade, craft, and technical workers are considered “below-the-line†employees, whereas producers, writers, directors, talent, and management are considered “above-the-line†employees. As a media economist, you can work for media organizations as a Negotiation Expert to suggest the organizations how to invest in the development of personnel skills and how to outsource specialize skills for specific applications.
Source: Employment News
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