Expansion of the core business of traditional media companies in Spain through SVOD services

The strategic importance of the internet for television became evident in the early 2000s, even destabilizing its very concept and finally resulting in convergence towards a profound transformation of the sector. The introduction of global over-the-top (OTT) media services into local markets has led to strategic changes in multimedia groups. This study considers the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services of Atresmedia and Mediaset España, the two main traditional media organizations in Spain that form a duopoly in the country’s commercial television sector, with the aim of understanding and evaluating their positioning strategy in this market and the results obtained through the diversification of their core business. Based on an analysis of their content, price, and promotion policies and the results in terms of subscriptions and revenues, slight differences emerge regarding the strategy and scope of these two groups in their own environment in the sector. They compete for customers to achieve growth in the audiovisual market while seeking to retain a cross-media, multiplatform audience, as well as expand their core business of commercial linear television against a background of a reduction of advertising spend on television and the expected increase of hybrid financing models.

Representament and Object (RO) Marking Iconicity Relationship in Wardah Cosmetics Commercial TV Advertising

This study aims to examine the relationship between representament and object iconicity in Wardah's cosmetic commercial television commercials, which include shampoo, BB cream, mascara, lipstick, and social activities. Wardah cosmetic commercial television commercials attempt to construct consumers using the concept of “Beauty from the heart”. Meanwhile, the beauty of cosmetic users is always visible physically. Thus, it cannot be proven to be real beauty from the heart when someone uses cosmetics. This study uses a qualitative descriptive method to analyze data in the form of verbal and nonverbal text. The researcher uses Charles Sander Peirce's semiotic theory which divides the signs according to the relationship between the representament (sign) and its object (marker) into icons, indexes, and symbols. The results of this study indicate that beauty can be classified into two categories, namely physical beauty and psychological beauty. Physical beauty relates to the body and the head. There are four parts of the head which are icons of beauty for a young woman: 1) the hair, 2) the facial skin, 3) the eyes, and 4) the lips. Meanwhile, psychological beauty is a beauty from the heart that is manifested in the form of attitudes during social activities. In addition, young women as users of Wardah cosmetics are represented by the use of youthful vocabulary and language typical of the millennial generation.

Dreams and desire. The cinema of Pier Paolo Pasolini and Federico Fellini: A conversation with Roberto Chiesi

In this interview, Roberto Chiesi talks about the personal and professional relationship between Pier Paolo Pasolini and Federico Fellini. He describes their experience with neorealism and how each of them moved past it to develop an original and unique cinematographic style. He focuses on specific elements of their cinema, such as the importance of the oneiric dimension and their conception of the sacred. Chiesi explains the central role civic involvement had in the work of Pasolini; his last movie Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom) (Pasolini 1975) is centred on the dramatic process of degradation caused by the new consumeristic ideology. Fellini, instead, was primarily concerned with the corruptive vulgarity of the new commercial television. Highlighting the importance of Pasolini and Fellini’s legacy, Chiesi concludes the interview by saying that the two artists had the foresight to imagine the dreadful long-term consequences the events of their time would produce, consequences we are experiencing in today’s society.

“We Will not Get Another Chance if We Lose This Battle Now”: Populism on Ukrainian Television Political Talk Shows ahead of the Presidential Election in 2019

Against a background of increasing electoral support of populist political actors in Europe and beyond, this study offers an exploratory inquiry into modern Ukrainian populism. The article examines populist communication, broadcast on the most highly rated Ukrainian television political talk shows, on the eve of the 2019 presidential election, which was completed in two rounds. A qualitative content analysis of populist communication acts (n=283) shows that Ukrainian viewers were exposed to diverse political discourses containing empty, anti-elitist, emergency, and complete populism, depending on which channel(s) they watched. The dominance of one or another type of populism on the studied channels mirrors the dynamics of media-political parallelism typical of Ukrainian commercial television. The study also examines the roles of different actors—moderators, journalists, and politicians—in either restricting or facilitating populism in the talk show studios. The populism-related reactions collected during this analysis (n=145) are discussed through the prism of normative roles, with a focus on gatekeeping, interpretation, and initiation. Implications for the stakeholders involved in the process of production, moderation, and consumption of political talk shows are presented.

Reliability and validity of children’s advertising exposure measures

Purpose First, three levels of content specificity for assessing children’s exposure to advertising were distinguished as follows: exposure to the medium, exposure to broad content and exposure to specific (i.e. commercial) content. Second, using longitudinal data from 165 children between 8 and 11 years old, the test-retest reliability and content validity of survey measures from all three levels were examined. Design/methodology/approach Due to societal concerns about the effects of advertising on children’s well-being, research into this topic is expanding. To enhance knowledge accumulation and bring uniformity to the field, a validated standard survey measure of advertising exposure is needed. The aim of this study is to provide such measures for television and internet advertising. Findings The findings suggest that all measures provided solid estimates for children’s television and internet advertising exposure. Yet, due to minor differences in reliability and validity, it may be concluded that television advertising exposure can best be measured by asking children how often they watch certain popular (commercial) television networks, either weighting or not weighting for advertising density. Internet advertising exposure can best be measured by asking children how often they use the internet or how often they visit certain popular websites, weighting for advertising density. Originality/value The current measures for children’s advertising exposure through traditional media can easily be adapted to fit new media.

The Challenges of Hosting Televised Deliberations in Ethiopian Media

This paper explores the factors constraining public service and commercial television channels in constituting the public sphere in Ethiopia. It focuses on three television stations and their respective programs, such as the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation's Ethiopian television (ETV)'s Medrek, Fana Broadcasting Corporation's Zuria Meles, and LTV's Sefiw Mehidar. The data was collected starting from 2019 to 2020 in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, where the three TV stations are located. These programs were designed to entertain different views, including ideologies, policies, and strategies to be deliberated and critiqued. They have created opportunities for debate and discussion as the Ethiopian media did not have new program formats for public deliberation-related shows previously. However, results showed that these platforms remained ineffective to entertain a diversity of views. One of the major challenges for this is that the production process encounters multiple obstructions from the media, the guests, and the government authorities. Guests fear to deliberate their views openly and prefer to remain abstinent. Also, the hosts lacked the courage, professionalism, and basic knowledge about the topics for discussion. Government authorities do not want the programs to be critical and deliberative. Equally, failures to achieve an inclusive public sphere are the outcomes of the unstable political landscape in the country. Therefore, due to different factors, including a highly controlled media landscape in Ethiopia, creating platforms for public debate seems unattainable.

The case for reviewing broadcasting co-regulation

This article applies principles from the Department of Communications’ policy review of telecommunications consumer protection to broadcasting co-regulation. The Consumer Safeguards Review establishes six principles for good regulation, including that rule-making processes should ‘enable a wide range of views to be considered’. It notes that processes for developing telecommunications codes of practice are likely to lead to ‘sub-optimal’ consumer protection measures. The article draws on original empirical research to assess development of commercial television and commercial radio codes of practice, with particular emphasis on public engagement in co-regulation. It finds the broadcasting codes of practice fail to meet the principles adopted by the Department for good co-regulation. It concludes by arguing there is a pressing need for a more holistic review of communications co-regulation, as broadcasting legislation is similar to the telecommunications legislation, and there is a risk that ‘sub-optimal’ practices could be applied in attempts to regulate digital platforms.

GENDER MANIPULATION IN TELEVISION ADVERTISING

Статья посвящена исследованию манипулятивного воздействия телевизионной рекламы на массового потребителя с учетом гендерного подхода. Автор рассматривает гендерные стереотипы как манипулятивный прием в коммерческой телевизионной рекламе и анализирует особенности его использования в продвижении российских брендов. The article is devoted to the study of the manipulative impact of television advertising on the mass consumer, taking into account the gender approach. The author considers gender stereotypes as a manipulative technique in commercial television advertising and analyzes the features of its use in the promotion of russian brands.

The participation of Palestinian-Israeli politicians in public and commercial television and radio in Israel as capability

This study examines how media representations of Palestinian-Israeli politicians, can help community members realize their capabilities. The study’s database is comprised of 1,207 interviews conducted with Palestinian-Israeli politicians on news and current affairs programs on the three national television channels and the two national radio stations in Israel, for 24 months (2016-2017). We identified and analyzed the differences in the modes of representation between national and local Palestinian-Israeli politicians and between Palestinian-Israeli parliament members in the Joint List and Palestinian-Israeli parliament members in Zionist parties, all through the capabilities prism. In this study, we demonstrated how different types of Palestinian-Israeli politicians may potentially affect the realization of different political functions and capabilities. Analyzing political representations in the media through the theoretical framework of the ‘capabilities approach’ contributes to a more comprehensive insight into the roles the media can play promoting people’s wellbeing and human rights, relative to traditional media theories.