3. Rating wars part 1
The term rating war refers to how different television companies will compete with one another
to gain views and advertisers. The reason why tv companies will compete for views is that they
receive their money from advertisers who will pay them in return for having the products shown
within advert breaks, these advertisers will pay more to have their products shown when more
people will be watching meaning that tv companies want to attract as much of an audience as
possible to gain the most money from adverts.
Advertisers are able to tell how many views programmes receives live due to a company called
barb which measures how many views programmes receive after they have finished it also uses
a survey of 10000 people to give rough estimates of who it is that watches different programs
allowing for companies to advertise better for their target audiences.
4. Rating wars part 2
Because advertisers know this tv companies will want to make themselves look competitive
leading to them creating content which has mass appeal such as emmerdale and britain's got
talent. Companies will also often move shows if they lose a ratings war and put something that is
not as not as likely to attract views in its place this can be seen though how itv moved x factor
back half an hour when strictly come dancing won the rating war between them. Finally
companies try not to put their big earners at the same time as the competitions which is why
hollyoaks and eastenders are shown at different times.
6. Internet part 1
The advent of the internet has brought debate as to weather it is a good thing for the
public and tv companies. The benefits and negatives it can be broken down into two
different categories, theses are consumer and company, the benefits to the consumer are
as follows. The consumer is able to watch what they want when they want rather than
when it is initially shown as well as allowing for the audience to watch on devices such as
pc’s, tablets and phones granting more choice, as well as allowing those who do not watch
the bbc to avoid buying a tv licence assuming they watch television once it is already
broadcast. Negatives to the consumer however are that it is expensive to get new
technologies which may be utilised.
7. Internet part 2
Advantages of the internet to companies is that they can attract a wider audience than they
would be able to otherwise, as being able to advertise through the internet before their streams
start, finally the adverts they show can be more interactive such as being able to take you
directly to the product page. There are however also disadvantages which have emerged with
the internet such as leaks of the plots of tv shows which can spoil a big plot point of a show
ahead of time running the surprise potentially lowering views, and while this is a bad thing it
does not compare to piracy which has boomed since the use of the internet became widespread,
this has negatively affected tv companys as people who pirate their content rather than
watching it officially are depriving them of ads meaning they will not be making money from the
view. This has recently evolved into the android tv boxes which will show every programme.
8. Mobile Devices
The wide scale use of mobile devices gives content creators problems as they have to
change how they create their content to accommodate for these devices and the
differences between them and tv’s. One example of this is how some programs have
stopped using long shots instead using a larger number of mid shots to close ups as it can
be hard to make out details in a long shot when using a small device such as mobile
phones. There is also debate has to how much companies change to embrace this new
medium of watching their content because it may help to limit the amount of pull towards
watching their programs which would hurt their views.
10. ofcom
Ofcom is a company which regulates what tv companies can produce, ensuring that it is
all appropriate for consumption by the consumer. Parts of this job include enforcing the
watershed which restricts what can be shown between 5:30am and 9:00pm to make sure
it is suitable for younger people viewers. Meaning that tv is safe for the public to watch
without fear of something inappropriate being shown. This does however threaten to
panic companies out of making more adventurous content in case it gets in trouble, this is
especially true now as ofcom has been cracking down on companies more than in the past
leading for some to think it is being too harsh.
12. encoding/decoding
Encoding and decoding is the idea that directors will put hidden messages into the content
which they create which will then be decoded by the audience so they will get the message on
their end this can range from a characters clothing indicating they will be wise to messages of
the story such as if you work hard things will go well for you. This does however carry the risk
that messages will be decoded wrong and as such the message will be warped which can have
unintended consequences, as happened with the anime (japanese animated tv show) death note
which warns how absolute power will corrupt absolutely and it is not up to one single person to
judge others, however this was taken by some people to mean some people deserve to die, these
people then killed someone in a way which looked like how the main character of the show
would.
13. Moral panics
Tv has come under fire being accused of exploiting and creating moral panics to suit it’s own
purposes which has led to it being blamed for many problems in society itself one example of
this is how tv has help to increase and spread islamophobia, and xenophobia to the masses and is
now being held responsible, while many people are now blaming tv for the spread of school
shootings in america saying that they make the killers look like stars given how they make sure
to exploit the killings for all they are worth giving any new information that is given such as
character profiles comparing how many victims of their crimes their are with other high profile
killers which encourages these people to be worse than those before them.
