Foundational focus is the main difference between political economy and cultural studies in understanding media industries. Based on Karl Marx’s ideas, media studies focus on the capital. Capital is money that increases by exploiting labor and product sales. This idea suggests that the way media works is connected to businesses. It mainly focuses on how money and other economic factors affect the media. Businesses own capital that runs the media, which affects what is made, how it is shared, and how people receive it (Munger, 2020). At its most basic, political economy looks at who owns big media companies, who controls the majority of the market, and who holds the most power in just a few corporations. When one company owns various media outlets, the stories and opinions they print look the same. This happens because the company wants to make money, so they only show things that will make them more money. It’s difficult to determine what to trust due to the simplicity of spreading false information on social media (Westerlund, 2019). The economy has a huge influence on how people buy and consume news and entertainment. This affects the variety and quality of media that people can access.
Furthermore, political economy focuses on how advertising and market pressures affect how media is made. Business goals strongly influence what is included in the content, leading to many stories driven by advertising and a media environment that is focused on making money. Relying on ads for money can make the news focus on what advertisers want, which might only sometimes give the full story (Braun and Eklund, 2019). Moreover, this method shows the negative effects of having only a few companies controlling the media. News media helps people learn and understand things in a democracy. People need to use and trust the news media. When one person or a few people own a lot of media companies, there are fewer different opinions and perspectives in the news and TV. This means that not everyone’s voice is heard. This monopoly can restrict the spread of certain ideas or opinions, affecting decision-making and knowledge acquisition.
In the past 5-10 years, there has been a big increase in new technology that has changed the way media is made, shared, and watched. The entertainment industry saw a decline in movie theatres and live shows. However, digital streaming services experienced a substantial rise in usage. This unavailability of outdoor entertainment pushed consumers to shift their behavior and choices to subscription video-on-demand services. Streaming platforms have become very important and have changed the way people entertain themselves, watch, and listen to things (Yang et al., 2021). People use streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ Hotstar for their main entertainment at home. Gen Z is watching less TV and using their phones more. Streaming platforms offer a wide variety of shows and movies that we can watch whenever we want. This transformation changed media usage and content creation.
New media technologies influence social changes. That’s why it’s hard to organize how media has changed over time neatly. Did radios make people want to buy more stuff in the 1920s, or did people like radios because they were already interested in buying things? It’s likely a combination of both. Electricity changed the way people thought about time because work and play didn’t depend on sunrise and sunset. Wireless communication made the distance seem smaller. The Internet has changed the way we save and find information. The telegraph made it possible to send messages without having to take them from one place to another physically. It didn’t matter how far the message needed to go; the telegraph could send it anywhere. Individuals could get news and information easily because telegraph lines were spreading all over the world.
Broadcasting has changed a lot since it started. It used to be just on TV and radio, but now many digital platforms offer lots of different shows and movies for people to watch. Due to new technology and changes in what people like broadcasting has a promising future. According to Ormanlı (2019), watching shows and movies online has completely changed how we enjoy entertainment. The increase in streaming has led to people cancelling their cable TV as they choose these easy and cheap alternatives. Youthful, creative shoppers don’t think they need to buy costly TVs and cable boxes. Instead, they prefer to use new technologies that are cheaper and offer more features. Additionally, there is a common belief that cable subscriptions are pricier compared to streaming subscriptions (Tefertiller, 2020). The streaming industry keeps growing, with more money put into making new shows and movies and more choices for subscriptions. Customization will be very important in the future of television.
Streaming services use advanced computer programs to study what users like and suggest stuff they might like. Nixon, Ciesielski, and Philipp (2019) contend that AI and machine learning help broadcasters give viewers more personalized shows. Audiences can watch selected content playlists and use interactive features to make their viewing experience more enjoyable and fulfilling. TV channels make more money when they can predict how many people will watch their shows in the future. Private channels decide how much to charge for advertising slots based on how many people they think will watch the show. Public channels must establish that they are capable of accomplishing the aims for which they are funded by the public (Nixon, Ciesielski, and Philipp, 2019). The arrival of 5G networks will make a big difference for the broadcasting industry. With 5G, consumers can stream amazing videos on their phones faster. This network has influenced more people to start using new technologies like VR and AR. According to Matinkhah and Shafik (2019), 5G assists broadcasters in showing live events and gives viewers a realistic experience. The future of TV and radio has a lot of potential because technology keeps getting better and consumer preferences change. Collaborations between TV and social media made it easy for people to interact and engage with each other. At the same time, 5G will change how we connect to the internet, making it possible to have more intense and real experiences when watching things. As we follow these new changes and predictions, broadcasting will change a lot, giving audiences more unique, personalized, and immersive content than ever before.
Blockchain technology has changed how things are shared and used. Blockchain offers creators ownership over their ideas, ensuring they receive fair pay. The technology has transformed how streaming works and give more power to content creators and consumers (Rathee et al., 2019). Streaming technology is getting better and faster because of improvements in the internet, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and blockchain. Streaming in the future will bring many exciting opportunities for people who make videos and those who watch them. As technology gets better, we will see streaming get faster and more exciting, with recommendations just for you. There will also be new ways to share content.
Live streaming has become very popular in the last few years and will keep getting more popular in the future. Being able to show events, sports games, concerts, and other experiences live on people’s devices is really popular. People can watch live videos on platforms like YouTube, Facebook Live, and Twitch. Viewers can expect even more new and advanced ways to use this technology in regular TV and online shows. Social media is very important in our everyday lives, and it is now closely connected to broadcasting. Broadcasters are using social media to connect with their viewers (Woodcock and Johnson, 2021). Similarly, social media sites are adding live videos and making their videos better. They are also partnering with events to show them live. The coming together of TV and social media will keep changing how we watch things, making it more fun and interactive.
Augmented reality and virtual reality are becoming more popular and will make live streaming even more exciting for viewers with new experiences. The digital world has changed a lot because of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). These technologies relate the real to digital worlds and create experiences that change consumers’ behaviour and interpersonal relationships. According to Turner (2022), AR makes the real world more interesting by putting digital things into it. It exists in apps like Pokémon Go or Snapchat filters, where digital things show up in the real world, like virtual creatures or cool effects on your photos. It feels like entering a new world and seeing things that we couldn’t do in real life. These technologies are not just for playing games. They can also be used in schools, hospitals, building design, and other areas. They are reshaping the methods through which we learn, work, and engage with the world.
People can use a technology called virtual reality (VR) to see and play in a computer-made world. It puts people into a fake world, keeping them away from the real world and making them feel like they are really there. VR uses special tools and software to take people to fake worlds, giving them cool and intense experiences. The main ideas of VR are to make it feel like you are really there and to be able to interact with the virtual world. Feeling like you’re really in a place that isn’t real. It happens when our senses like seeing, hearing, and sometimes feeling, work together. Virtual reality makes the brain think that the virtual world is real by giving a smooth and convincing experience. To try VR, people usually use special equipment made for it. Headsets are things you wear on your head to see and hear things better. These headsets have very clear screens that show 3D images, so it feels like you’re really inside the picture. They might also have headphones or speakers that make the sound seem like it’s coming from different directions, making the sound better.
VR systems often have controllers or input devices that let users do things in the virtual world along with the headsets. These controllers can follow the movements of the user’s hands. This lets them move objects, make gestures, and explore the virtual world. Some advanced VR systems have special sensors for the whole body, devices that give touch feedback, or platforms that move to make the experience more real. Playing video games has really helped more people start using VR technology, and lots of people still like using it for gaming. VR gaming lets you go deeper into the game and interact more, so you feel like you’re really inside the virtual world of the game you love. VR gaming is really fun. It lets you go to cool places and do cool things like you’re really there.
VR is not just for games. It’s also used for training in different industries. In things like airplanes, hospitals, and army practice, VR lets people practice hard things and situations without spending a lot of money or getting hurt. Trainees can practice in simulations that copy tough or dangerous situations, so they can get better at their skills, make good choices, and do better in general. Virtual tourism is a new way that VR is starting to be important in. With virtual reality, people can use special technology to see and experience places like faraway places, old places, and beautiful places without going there in real life. VR tours are like a way to visit places using special technology. You can see and do things in a pretend world and learn about new places and cultures.
The changes in technology have affected media forms and genres in more ways than just for fun. The increase of digital platforms and social media as main sources of news has made traditional journalism models more difficult to use. The quickness of posting news online, regular people reporting news, and news spreading through social media have changed how information is shared. This has caused arguments about whether the news is reliable and real and the role of old-fashioned news companies. In the last 5-10 years, technology has greatly changed the way media looks and works. The way people watch shows and movies has changed because of streaming platforms. Anyone can now make content, and new technology makes the experience more real. These changes have made the media world different and offer new ways to tell stories, giving viewers more options and interactive experiences. The evolution of media is still ongoing. There will be more new and different ways to create, watch, and enjoy media content.
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