ECREA16-Abstract_book

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PP 713 Subsidization Through Advertising: Assessing a Peculiarity of Austria’s News Market
S. Sparviero1, S. Gadringer1
1 University of Salzburg, Institute of Communication Studies, Salzburg, Austria
The market for the distribution of news in Austria is relatively atypical and therefore an interesting case study.The effects of technological change on the dis‑
tribution of news are visible in the proliferation of online platforms and digital editions of newspapers, as well as in the common use of social media for
the promotion of content. However, particularly thanks to subscriptions, the consumption of printed newspaper is still very popular and attendance of tele‑
vised news programmes by the public service broadcaster is still very high. As a result, the effects of technological change on the structure of the markets
for the distribution of news, which remain rather concentrated, have been quite contained: the public service broadcaster largely dominates the distribution
of news on television; the popular local and regional newspapers benefit from local monopolies, and tabloids and free newspapers are ahead in the com‑
petition for national audience over nationally distributed broadsheets. Thanks to the use of unpublished data collected by YouGov for the Supplementary
Digital News Report 2015 and the Digital News Report of 2016 published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, the authors are able to
provide an analysis of the effects of the market structure on the consumption of news in Austria, with details that have never been made public before.
Moreover, the analysis of this data can also shed new light on a controversial issue that originates from, and has consequences on, the policy sphere. Since
the implementation of a Media Transparency Act in 2011, public institutions are obliged to publish the details of their acquisitions of advertising space
from media outlets. The amount of advertising through public institutions exceeds the amount of regular (granted by law) press subsidies by ten times.
Therefore, if subsidies to the press and television are regulated and have been made public since 2004, the amounts that public institutions feed to media
outlets for the purpose of advertising are not regulated and information about them was until recent times also confidential. The information published as
a result of this regulatory change shows that public institutions tend to consistently favour placing advertising on tabloids and free newspapers over other
media outlets. In order to explain this choice, these institutions claim that the rationale for this bias is economic and they justify it with the higher circulation
of these brands in comparison to others. Against this background, we assume instead that advertising by public institutions is a specific and asymmetric
form of subsidy for a few – though politically powerful – media outlets causing market distortions. Through a review of the content of these ads and
the unpublished data on the consumption of news we assess whether this form of transfer of important funds from public institutions to particular media
companies is (1) efficient and can be explained by a market logic, and (2) adds value in terms of increased information for targeted audiences.
PP 714 Coping with De-Differentiation: Media Organizations Between Economization of Content and Medialization of Commerce
A. Baetzgen1, J. Tropp2
1 Stuttgart Media University, Electronic Media, Stuttgart, Germany
2 Pforzheim University, Business School, Pforzheim, Germany
Due to the economization and medialization of modern societies, a new interrelation between brands and media is emerging. On the one hand 'marketers
are buying less and less media. They are the media”(Lieb 2011). One example is the Emmy-award-winning short film 'Two Bellmen”from Marriott Content
Studios owned by the international hotel chain Marriott, which debuted in March 2015. On the other hand public media operates more and more accord‑
ing the principles of commerce. For example, the Washington Post 'could quickly become a laboratory for the next generation of integrated content and
commerce' (Blodget 2013) after its acquisition by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. This emerging change in the relationship between brands and media has
fundamental impact particularly on media organizations (e.g. organizational independence, business models in the audience and advertising market, rev‑
enues, organizational structure and processes) and the production and perception of entertainment and informational content (e.g. content quality, jour‑
nalistic independence, media credibility). However, despite the significance of this phenomenon, the body of relevant research is equally sparse in the field
of media theory (Baetzgen & Tropp 2015). This research project analyses and discusses the theoretical and practical implications of the new interrelation
between brands and media from a media industries point of view. A theoretical framework will be presented, which enables a systematic conceptualization
of the consequences resulting from the de-differentiation for media organizations. To achieve that, Giddens´ (1984) theory of structuration is used to
outline a profound model of the organizational change in media companies, which is taking place today. Thus, relevant developments on the macro, meso
and micro level will be linked and theorised in order to examine the consequences of the mutually reinforcing economization of content and medialization
of commerce in an integrated way. As a result, postulates for media industries and content production under the conditions of de-differentiation are derived,
which are related to functional communication strategies (micro level), to organizational structures (meso level), and to media organizations’role as social
agents in societies (macro level). The findings can be used as a theoretical framework for empirical studies about the organizational change of media com‑
panies and content production. Furthermore, they provide media organizations practical guidance for decision-making against the background of discon‑
tinuities and de-differentiation. References: Baetzgen, A. & Tropp, J. (2015): How can brand-owned media be managed? Exploring the managerial success
factors of the new interrelation between brands and media. International Journal on Media Management, 17(3), 135–155. Blodget, H. (2013): Here's
Why I Think Jeff Bezos Bought The Washington Post. Business Insider, Aug. 5,
2013–8?IR=T, accessed: Feb. 27, 2016 Giddens, A. (1984): The constitution of society. Cambridge: Polity Press. Lieb, R. (2011): Content Marketing. Think like
a publisher. How to use content to market online and in social media. Indianapolis, IND: Que Publishing.