To what extent does digital distribution affect the marketing and consumption of media products in the media area you have studied?

To what extent does digital distribution affect the marketing and consumption of media products in the media area you have studied?

Remember to answer this from the point of view of the institution and the audience involved.

You absolutely must use case study material in your answer.

PLAN

MARKETING-

·      Social media- different target audience, cheap to use, worldwide, popular, can be shown on different platforms, many different forms (websites) of SM, easy to use. Can comment, like, rate, recommend. CASE STUDY- ill manors: low budget, SM main marketing

·      Websites- cheap to run, can get to a wide range of audiences, can link SM to page, worldwide, can use different format on it (videos, images etc.)

·      Posters

·      Trailers

·       

DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION AND CONSUMPTION

·      Cinemas- needing to get better quality as TVs are caching up (2D, 3D, IMAX, D box seats)

·      DVDs- now becoming cheaper, good quality, no need to re-wind etc., portable players, a lot of profit for film companies comes from DVD sales

·      Websites (YouTube, Netflix)- on the internet so easily accessible from home, gets film out there to the public easier, easier to commit piracy, can watch it on smart TVs, computers, laptops, smart phones, small screen means viewer may lose enjoyment of the film

There is no doubt that the digital distribution of a film does affect the way it is marketed and consumed. There are also many other factors.

One way in which a film could be marketed is by using different forms of social media. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are free to use meaning that films with all budgets can use these as a platform to market their film. Ill manors is a good example of how social media can be used in a effective way to market a film. Its Facebook site has 29,740 ‘likes’ it has 3,619 ‘followers’ on its Twitter page. This shows that also of the target audience have seen the pages. The target audience of your film may affect the impact of social media as although social media is becoming more popular with a rage of ages no everyone has a social media page. Social media sites also allows you to comment your thoughts about your film which can either work in favour or against the film itself because people will be able to express their views even if they are bad and you cannot control it.  One of the reasons why ill manors has used social media as a marketing platform is that it is free as its budget was only £100,000, this compared to the James Bond film Skyfall’s estimated budget of $200,000,000 is tiny.

Film websites are also another good marketing platform for films of all genre. Ill manors website has many things on it including its logo, trailer, poster, links to its social media page, images, videos, links to buy the film, reactions and a link to buy the album of the film. Again, it is very good for films with low budgets as it can be done for free yet it can be accessible around the world. Because many things in different formats can be put on it the viewer will not be aware of the costs so therefor may see the film as more professional. 

Trailors for both Ill manors and Skyfall have been put on websites sch as YouTube. YouTube itself is very well known making it the perfect platform for advertisement for any film. The ill manors tailor has 43,799 views and skyfall has 18,173,621 views. This shows that even though there is a big different in the amounts of viewers, they still get watched and is there for a way of getting people to watch the film.

Other internet platform that work to help the film industry in getting people to watch the films made include Netflix and lovefilm. They buy the film so they can then put it on their website. They then charge a subscription fee. It allows people to watch films in their own home on many devices as long as they have internet access, for example, smart phone, laptops, tables and computers. This may bring in more money for the film makers as it means that people can access the film without having to go out to buy the film. Internet shopping also has the same effect. However having the film on so many websites has made it harder to stop people from illegally downloading or uploading the film, it will result in a loss of profit or the film makers. 

Because of the easy access to films cinemas are having to make different ways to try and get people interested in paying for a ticket. Therefore they have made more ways to watch the film other than 2D including 3D, IMAX and D- box seating which moves along with the film. This has made it a little hard for the distributors as they have to turn it in to different formats however it does in most cases increase their profit along with the cinema profits as people hard to pay a little more for the tickets.