ownership, concentration, convergence: google [2010-11]
DESCRIPTION
Slides used in the MAC309 session this semesterTRANSCRIPT
Ownership, concentration, conver
gence
Google?
MAC309
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megamedia – concerns for culture – concerns for news - search
Recent trend: megamedia– fewer and fewer corporations owning more and more
media outlets
(i.e. concentration)
– through merger, hostile acquisition, strategic partnership
– owning across platform; across places; across news/entertainment divide
– corporations that do more than just produce media
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megamedia – concerns for culture – concerns for news - search
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megamedia – concerns for culture – concerns for news - search
Economics of megamedia1. Media is a ‘public good’, experiences and ‘economy of scale’
– Consuming media does not make it unavailable to others
– Privileges firms with available capital
– Urges firms to seek bigger audiences
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megamedia – concerns for culture – concerns for news - search
Economics of megamedia1. Media is a ‘public good’, experiences and ‘economy of scale’
2. Integration, on vertical and horizontal dimensions
– Vertical: owning steps along the production process
– Horizontal: owning multiple outlets for product
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Production
Distribution
Consumption
Publishing Radio Television Press
Vertical integration
Horizontal integration
megamedia – concerns for culture – concerns for news - search
20th Century Fox
Fox Searchlight
Fox Television Studios
Blue Sky Studios
Sky (+)
Fox
FX
Sky 1, 2, 3
Sky Movies
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Vertical: film production (eg The Simpsons Movie)
Harper Collins The Sun MySpace IGN STAR
megamedia – concerns for culture – concerns for news - search
20th Century Fox
Fox Searchlight
Fox Television Studios
Blue Sky Studios
Sky (+)
Fox
FX
Sky 1, 2, 3
Sky Movies
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Horizontal: film production (eg The Simpsons Movie)
Harper Collins The Sun MySpace IGN STAR
megamedia – concerns for culture – concerns for news - search
Implications of media concentration?– Homogenisation of content?
– Incessant cross-promotion?
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megamedia – concerns for culture – concerns for news - search
Implications of media concentration?– Homogenisation of content?
– Incessant cross-promotion?
– Huge cost of entry for independents, new creators, smaller interests?
– Bottom-line trumps creativity?
– Loss of local character of media?
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megamedia – concerns for culture – concerns for news - convergence
Implications of media concentration?– Homogenisation of content?
– Incessant cross-promotion?
– Huge cost of entry for independents, new creators, smaller interests?
– Bottom-line trumps creativity?
– Loss of local character of media?
– Fewer sources of information?
– Take safe political positions… or agenda-driven ones?
– Unlikely to report fairly on their own public impact
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megamedia – concerns for culture – concerns for news - search
Implications of media concentration?– Homogenisation of content?
– Incessant cross-promotion?
– Huge cost of entry for independents, new creators, smaller interests?
– Bottom-line trumps creativity?
– Loss of local character of media?
– Fewer sources of information?
– Take safe political positions… or agenda-driven ones?
– unlikely to report fairly on their own public impact…• or on the political situations that benefit them
• or on the problems of corporate capitalism?
– Lobbying power, international influence21
SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS
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concentrated search – the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy
• Google• 1998: search engine launched
• 2004: public stock offering
• 2006: ‘google’ added to the OED
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concentrated search – the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy
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concentrated search – the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy
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Feb 2011
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concentrated search – the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy
• Is the search industry concentrated?
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concentrated search – the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy
• Is the search industry concentrated?
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concentrated search – the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy
• Is the search industry concentrated?
– Dominated by a few firms
– Capital intensive to compete
– Overwhelmingly supported by ad revenue
– Companies are expanding well beyond search and access
– Overwhelmingly American
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concentrated search – the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy
• Is our use of the web dominated by these providers?
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concentrated search – the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy
Does concentration matter here?
• Traditional media business: 2 commodities
- Provide content to audience
- Provide audience to advertiser
• Tendency to want to shape content to serve most viewers
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concentrated search – the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy
Does concentration matter here?
• Traditional media business: 2 commodities
- Provide content to audience
- Provide audience to advertiser
• Tendency to want to shape content to serve most viewers
• Search: provide platform for every user to find exactly what they want
• Generally less interested in the content
• More important to be comprehensive and satisfying
• Automation of search removes some human involvement42
concentrated search – the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy
What explains the corporate presence in our top searches?
• Google’s ‘PageRank’ algorithm?
– Search results based on incoming links, not just content
– Wisdom of the crowd?
– Popularity contest?
– Self-affirming, high-ranked links stay high?
• Corporate power over content production, search merely delivers?
• Do the structures of ‘information access’ shape our engagement with that information?
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concentrated search – the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy
Does the dependence on ad revenue affect search?
• DoubleClick: serves up banner ads to web pages
• AdSense: matches ads to webpage content
• AdWords: matches ads to search terms
– Sponsored and affiliated links
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concentrated search – the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy
Are there new implications of concentration in search?
• Established firms curtail innovation?
• Lobbying power?
• Platform lock-in?
Search (+ advertising) + applications
• Ad revenue makes it desirable to keep users coming back
• Google apps feed users back to search engine
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concentrated search – the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy
Search (+ advertising) + applications
• Ad revenue makes it desirable to keep users coming back
• Google apps feed users back to search engine
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concentrated search – the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy
Search (+ advertising) + applications
• Ad revenue makes it desirable to keep users coming back
• Google apps feed users back to search engine
GmailNewsReaderMapsEarthAndroidYouTube
GroupsDocsCalendarBooksScholarChrome OSGoggles
CheckoutShoppingImagesDesktopVideoSketch UP
PicassaOrkutTalkBloggerChromeDesktop
Steet ViewLatitudeAndroidWaveBuzzVoice
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concentrated search – the pull of advertising – platform lock-in - privacy
Are there new implications of concentration in search?
• Established firm curtails innovation?
• Lobbying power?
• Platform lock-in?
• Information privacy?
– Google saves search queries
– Uses Gmail and Deja as consumer data
– Maps, Street View, Latitude…
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http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2010/01/10/google-street-view-fails-wins-wtfs/
Latitude
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-Oq-9enE-k
• Check out Aka Aki too:
• http://www.aka-aki.com/
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Other stuff
• Google book deal?
• Behaviourial advertising