Case Studies on Media and Entertainment Industry – Vol. II

Edited by : Saradhi Kumar Gonela
ISBN : ISBN: 978-81-314-2119-2
Price: $25  ( INR)
228 pages( Hardcover edition )

Media and entertainment industry includes a wide variety of products and services that entertain everyday consumer and serve as informative tools. The industry is categorised into a number of segments, each of which provides either entertainment or information on events around the world. These segments include traditional print media, television, radio broadcasting, film entertainment, video games, and perhaps most importantly, music videos.

Companies that publish newspapers, magazines, and books form the print media segment. Revenue model of these includes two aspects, subscription revenue and advertisement revenue. The company receives subscription amount even before it delivers, but that forms a marginal part of the revenue. Advertisement revenue forms a major chunk of the total revenue, which the company gets in bulk regularly. The cost structure of the publishing business is mostly fixed, thus higher volumes translate directly into profits. This means enviable return on capital for large publishers. These firms enjoy invaluable brand image, which gives them twin benefits. One, that protects their products from competition, two, that provides highly loyal customer base. Everything looks so merry, but still why the new CEO of The New York Times, arguably the best in the business, is a worried man about falling numbers – both circulations and profits?

The television segment includes a large number of companies that provide various television services related to entertainment and information. It has evolved into many formats since its beginning, and today there are umpteen channels dedicated to particular kinds of programs or to one consumer segment. And they are still evolving. This segment is drawing great synergies from the growing internet popularity. These two aspects have placed the television segment firmly on the growth path. Hence, the threat of a disruptive new technology or revenue stagnation is not looming in the near future. If that is so, why the exes at BSkyB, one of the best known media houses, are breaking sweat to formulate strategies?

The executives of this industry are faced with a variety of dilemmas. This book, Media and Entertainment Industry Vol. II, captures many such dilemmas along with success and failure stories in the media business. Albeit the main intention of the book is to aid classroom learning, through debates and discussions, it can also be used by practising managers. Apart from keeping the readers abreast with the latest dilemmas at some pockets in the media industry, this book also helps them understand the best practices that can be adopted and also the pitfalls that must be avoided.