Media ecology essay plan

 Media Ecology 

*Essay Plan*

Opening sentence: The relationship between media and audiences is changing drastically. 

intro:

Definition 

- Media ecology aims to describe how diverse media environments shape today's society and our everyday lives. The theory's overall core is how the content's communication isn't as nearly impactful as the way it is being consumed. 

Position of argument 

- I agree with the fact that media is constantly changing and the way it is being consumed can have an altering effect on audiences. The way audiences consume media is an ever-changing phenomenon that has been introduced to different generations. New ways of consuming media are being introduced daily. In the last year, 4 new streaming video on demand platforms have been introduced, which I will detail later on.

First paragraph:
 

Introduced

- Marshall McLuhan came up with the media ecology theory in 1964 and was officially introduced in 1968by the media theorist Neil postman. McLuhan was the first to suggest that studies should be focused on the type of media rather than the message being communicated. 

- Our behavior in society has been changed by the medium rather than the media. 

- Explain how media = message, medium = technology. The middle man 

-Suggests that the environment inevitably affects our perceptions, feelings, values, and beliefs. 

Second paragraph: 

Fragmentation 

- Fragmentation shows the trend of the increasing choice of how audiences consume media in terms of different platforms or channels, for example, linear TV, streaming video on demand (SVOD), or things such as social media platforms i.e Instagram or Facebook

 

- How many kids have smartphones, fully 95% of teens have access to a smartphone and 45% say they are online 'almost constantly. In today's date, nearly half of the teen population aged from 13 to 17 say they use Facebook less compare to platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat which were released later.  

- Instagram: 2010

- Snapchat: 2011 

- Facebook: 2004

- Surveys were used to determine different social standings and somewhat 40% of these respondents have said that social media has had a positive impact because it helps them keep in touch and interact with others.

- Nuclear family then vs now. Typical family figure 2 parents and multiple children. 

 

Third paragraph: 

SVOD, Cinemas 

- Rapid decline in cinema use massive incline in streaming videos on demand 

- Introduction of 4 new SVOD platforms, Apple TV, HBO Max, Peacock, and Disney+ in the last 2 years

 (relate back to fragmentation and how different age groups are using different types of technology to view media without regulatory boundaries)

- Between 2019-2020, the number of global subscriptions increased by 26% reaching 1.2 billion subscribers in the year 2020. In this year the Film and TV industry experienced unprecedented growth.   

(Disney+ has already gained over 100 million subscribers since its launch in November 2020). 

• Simultaneous releases from Disney, both in cinema and SVOD, actors pay based on box office sales. 

- Audience demand constantly grows and spending on content production continues to ramp up. In 2020 there was a record-breaking $220.2 billion spent on making and acquiring new feature films and TV programming.  

Fourth paragraph: 

Piracy, Web 2.0

- introduction of web 2.0 in 1999. The second stage of development of the internet is where users can now be interactive online and have user-generated content. 

- Piracy is the copying of other work. People have the freedom to download films illegally off the internet without having to pay. 

• Takes away from traditional methods such as movie cinemas, why would you pay when you could get it at home for free. 
• The risk of having SVOD makes it easier to copy and upload to the internet, taking away some of the profits that they could potentially be earning. 

- 126.7 billion viewings worth of US-produced TV episodes are pirated every year.

- Annual global revenue losses from digital piracy are between $40 and $97.1 billion in the movie industry.

Henry Jenkins and the Fandom theory
- Fan culture or communities built around the shared enjoyment around a particular film or TV series
*Mandalorian example
* Stranger things, fan pages having to be taken down because of the mockery and pressure put on characters. The message of what fans were posting.

Shirky 

- Clay Shirky believes that passive audiences (audiences that watch/intake media mindlessly) no longer exist in today's day-in-age 

- He believes that technology has changed certain expectations and behaviors, that audiences like to talk back to producers and be active, communicating with the people making the media. 

Fifth paragraph:

Conclusion 

- Cinemas are on a rapid decline, but people still like the experience of going to the movies but feel overcharged because of the high prices cinemas charge to compensate for the lower amount of ticket sales.

- SVOD is a rapidly growing market that may help create monopolies within the film industry 

- Fragmentation doesn't help in terms of keeping linear TV alive amongst nuclear families. Young people having more freedom to different types of unregulated media. Should certain media be regulated? Is it the media itself that has an effect on the audience or more the medium (technology), Marshall McLuhan 

- Because of the easier access, easier to download and upload videos illegally to free streaming platforms, creating scams and sometimes fooling young kids or older generations such as boomers.