From passive consumption of media goods to active use of media brands: on value generation and other differences

Abstract

Analyses of business models and media consumption within the traditions of media economics and media management explicitly –but mostly implicitly– rely on the representation of a media consumer that rationally pursues the maximisation of utility. Such concept provides the basis for the generalised understanding of the passive consumer of media goods, motivated by subjective wants, needs and preferences. Yet, the digitalisation of media production and distribution has fundamentally changed consumers, producers and their relationship. Users of digital media platforms select, purchase or attend the output of media providers, and leave traces of their digital activities for marketers and advertisers. In addition, they supply content, rate, comment, and share or promote among their network the offers of media providers. The increasing variety of media providers are better understood as brands proposing different value generating activities rather than substitute products at different prices. Critically and by drawing from literature from a variety of research traditions, including political economy of communication, sociology, philosophy and marketing, this theoretical paper discusses the features of the active user of media brands, the hypothetical recipient of the business models of digital media services such as YouTube, Google, Netflix, Amazon Video or Facebook. It is argued that practical knowledge, affect, different types of gratifications and universal values, which are guiding principles for a better life, should be taken into account

The value of podcasts to journalism: analysis of digital native media brands’ offerings, production and publishing in Spain

“…Publishing on the most powerful podcast distribution and playback platforms amplifies the presence of native news brands within the sonosphere. This reinforces the process of reintermediation of content between audiences who adopt new forms of consumption (Sparviero, 2019;Vara-Miguel, 2020).…”

Quantifying digital-native and legacy, national and local news websites in Spain, their topic scope and platforms

“…Digital-native media emerged in the wake of declining non-natives (Postman, 2000;Scolari, 2012;Salaverría, 2017) and have adopted technological change fast and flexibly (Pavlik, 2000;Nee, 2013;Westlund, 2013), introducing new processes and roles for content production (Caminero and Sánchez-García, 2018) and establishing different models of audience relationships (Jenkins and Carpentier, 2013;Sparviero, 2019) that have permeated other kinds of media.…”

Cooperation between Final Purchasers and Offerors in the Online and Offline Environments vs. the Benefits Derived by Active Purchasers

“…Thanks to the involvement of final purchasers in the process of creating marketing offers, the resources previously at the disposal of purchasers and offerors are used by both parties in the process of cooperation, which means that they simultaneously act as integrators of these resources [16]. Purchasers participating in the process of jointly creating marketing offers with offerors are referred to as active purchasers [4], co-producers [10], and prosumers [17], to distinguish them from those who limit their activity to making purchases, who are referred to as passive buyers [18].…”

“…The joint creation of marketing offers by final purchasers and offerors fits into the paradigm of joint value creation [1]. It describes how purchasers can be included in the process of creating (especially at the stage of preparation and implementation) material products (goods) and intangible products (services), as well as other values, including experiences as active participants in these activities [18]. According to both this paradigm and the 'service-dominant logic' theory, value is co-created by the enterprise and the purchaser [19,20].…”