2. Major studios
• 6 media conglomerates control 90% of the media industry, they do this through
horizontal integration and Vertical integration to increase their company's size and
profits.
• Horizontal integration is acquiring a company within the same industry, when a
company wishes to grow through horizontal integration, it is seeking to increase its
size, reduce competition and gain access to new customers and markets. Examples
of horizontal integration is the acquisition of Pixar by Disney or Instagram by
Facebook.
• Vertical integration is acquiring a company that operates before or after the
acquiring company in the production process, when a company wishes to grow
through vertical integration it is to reduce its production costs, strengthen its supply
chain and capture upstream and downstream profits. Examples of vertical integration.
• Companies acquired by major studios are known as minor studios, for example
Pixar is a minor studio as it is owned by Disney which is a major studio as it is part of
the big six.
3. The ‘Big Six”
Conglomerate companies
General Electric
News Corp
Disney
Viacom
Time Warner
CBS
Notable companies owned
Comcast, NBC, Universal Pictures
Fox, New York post
ABC, ESPN, Pixar, Marvel Studios
MTV, Paramount, Nickelodeon
CNN, HBO, Warner Brothers
NFL.COM, Showtime
4. Minor studios
• These studios produce films that are mostly or completely outside off a major film
studio, they are usually also distributed independently however the distribution rights
are sometimes acquired by a major film studio if they are interested within the film.
• Films produced by these studios typically have a limited release and are screened at
films festivals before distribution. They generally have a low budget compared to major
studio films, as finding funds for a film is much harder for independent film studios.
• Due to independent film studios having a limited budget they are limited on the genre
of movies that they can produce, for examples action films tend to have a very high
budget due to the features within them such as explosions etc... Due to this independent
film studios tend to produce films within the genre of social realism and horror.
• Examples of successful films produced by independent film studios
include Paranormal Activity, which was produced by Blumhouse
productions; this film was made on a budget of $15000 and made $194.3
million at worldwide box office.
