Cultural Industries

Cultural industry companies try to minimise risk and maximise audiences through vertical (e.g. making a sequel of one successful film) and horizontal integration (e.g. the use of stars, genres and serials). The radical potential of the internet has been contained to some extent by its partial incorporation into larger, profit-oriented set of cultural industries.

Vertical Intergration - When a company expands its business into areas that are at different points on the same production path, such as when a manufacturer owns its supplier and/or distributor.

Horizontal Intergration - A MediaCompany can own a Magazine, Radio, Newspaper, Television and Books for example The Walt Disney Company who own Marvel and Lucasarts and are probably the greatest example of horizontal intergration.

Many films and TV shows now focus on the stars in the show or film rather than the story of the film itself and that is also the fault of the viewer as they may only watch a film or show becasue of the actor that is in it.

Brand intergration is inevitable in all forms of media, and some of the time it isn't done intentionally. For example a charecter in a TV show owning an IPhone, it dosen't necessarily mean that it is a paid intergration but it's there. An example of a paid brand intergration is Marvel's deal with BMW. Most, if not all of the cars driven by the 'good guys' are BMW brand.

Minimising risk and maximising audiences leads to maximised profit. This is something that media companies live by, trying to stay generic enough to be safe. This can lead to a lack of creativity and the repetition of some themes, ideas and techniques in the media industry.