Industry & Audience Analysis - The Sun

Industry 

• the nature of media production, including by large organisations, who own the products they produce, and by individuals and groups 

Owned by:  Rupert Murdoch [media mogul billionaire with right wing views]

Company:  News UK 

~ this is a subsidiary of a large conglomerate called NewsCorp

Vertically integrated with: 

• The Times & The Sunday Times
• Virgin radio
• Classic FM
• Harper collins publishers
• News printers

• the impact of production processes, personnel and technologies on the final product, including similarities and differences between media products in terms of when and where they are produced 

Production process:

• the effect of ownership and control of media organisations, including conglomerate ownership, diversification and vertical integration 

Effect of ownership: 

• Vertical integration contributes to The Sun’s success as it is cost saving. For example, they own news printers (production factories for printing processes). This allows for cheaper printing costs.
• Vertical integration also allows for cross promotion. The Sun advertises on virgin media. 
• They have partnered up with Harper Collins [Free books for schools campaign], primary schools could apply on The Sun’s website for £600 worth of books for free.

• the impact of the increasingly convergent nature of media industries across different platforms and different national settings

Benefits of technology:

• Easier to distribute to mass and global audiences.
• Devices allow for wider access ~ wider audience.
• Regularly updated articles, audiences are constantly up to date.
• Cheaper and free on devices.
• Choice ~ audience can choose how and when they want to consume the product, there are a variety of platforms which also increases the target audience.
• Interaction ~ gives the audience a voice and platform to share their opinions. 

Benefits of technology to industry:

• Layout and design would be on a computer which is easier to manage and allows for brighter colours. Including the introduction of photoshop and cartoons.
• Update the news regularly.
• They can gather data and statistics ~ use this to adjust or guide their content, for example the amount of time spent on each topic.

Impact of technology:

• In August 2013, The Sun launched Sun+, a subscription service digital entertainment package. Subscribers paid £2 per week but were able to access all of The Sun’s regular content as well as have exclusive access to Premier League clips, a variety of digital rewards and a lottery. Despite the cost of this, Sun+ had 117,000 subscribers who they could engage with on a more personal level due to the brand loyalty created from the subscription. This was just one of the ways The Sun adapted to people’s reading habits, with people now having little time to spare and increasingly ‘reading on the go’.
• However, in November 2015, the paper had to remove the paywall and offer most of its web content for free in order to compete with major rivals such as The Mail Online. Since removal of the paywall, it now has around 1 million browsers per day.
• Despite the move of most news services to online platforms, the print edition continues to be extremely popular with approximately 3 million daily readers, compared to 4 million who consume it on their mobile devices.
• Opens revenue stream through adverts on website pages.
• Newspapers can use technology to help them regulate comments, they can use algorithms to control the content posted by readers on their websites – these block certain words from being posted – these are not always reliable though.
• Regulation has become more difficult.
• Audiences are constantly up to date with the news and have a variety of platforms to access The Sun, this increased accessibility also increases the audience.

• the importance of different funding models, including government funded, not-for-profit and commercial models

How does The Sun earn its revenue?

• It has become increasingly difficult to make a revenue, the newspaper industry has to adapt to a changing digital world.
• Increasingly, newspapers earn revenue from their advertisements therefore journalism is being seen more and more as a commodity whose purpose is predominantly for profit.
• Newspapers are under increasing pressure to capture audiences as readership figures of print news continue to drop and advertisers choose to leave if figures drop too low.
• In the set text, the populist nationalist ideology and emotive ultimatum that dominates the cover is a clear bid to attract those readers who voted leave.
• £1 in every £7 spent on groceries is spent by a Sun reader making it a very attractive advertising vehicle. 

• the functions and types of regulation of the media + the challenges for media regulation presented by ‘new’ digital technologies 

Audience

• how and why media products are aimed at a range of audiences, from small, specialised audiences to large, mass audiences

• the ways in which media organisations target audiences through marketing, including an understanding of the assumptions organisations make about their target audience(s) 

The Sun’s target audience and how they are appealed to:

Additional notes: 

• The Sun targets the lower middle social classes, most of whom haven’t attended higher education. Two thirds of its readers are over 35 years old, 54% are male and its biggest audience share comes from the C2DE demographic.
• According to www.see-a-voice.org , the average reading age of the UK population is 9 years old. The Sun has a reading age of 8 years. Using words in bold, lots of visuals and smaller chunks of text means they are purposefully making their product accessible to everyone and especially appealing to members of our society who have weaker literacy skills.
• In addition, this way of formatting makes it easier to read at speed – on the daily commute for example – and to skim and scan the paper to find specific articles that interest you. This could help explain why The Sun is “Britain’s most popular paper” as stated by its tagline, as it is an easy read.

• how media organisations categorise audiences

Demographics and psychographics: 

• the role of media technologies in reaching and identifying audiences, and in audience consumption and usage

• the ways in which people’s media practices are connected to their identity, including their sense of actual and desired self

• the ways in which audiences may interpret the same media products very differently and how these differences may reflect both social and individual differences

• how audiences may respond to and interpret media products and why these interpretations may change over time • theoretical perspectives on audiences, including active and passive audiences; audience response and audience interpretation 

Different ways audiences may view the same product differently:

Reception theory

• Dominant / preferred – agree with something 
• Negotiated – understand both sides, in the middle
• Oppositional – dislike or disagree with something

Active audiences – respond and engage with products, example is the Hillsborough tragedy 

Passive audiences – believe what is before them

Additional notes:

Historically, readers of print newspapers were considered to be passive (i.e. they read what was in front of them and believed it), especially as there is an expectation that what is shared in the news genre is true. However, today’s audiences are much more active and understand how tabloids often don’t report full facts. This potentially changes the way they interpret the information they are given. 

A copy of The Sun included:

• Free £1 bet [appeals to C2DE audience]
• Amanda Holden exclusive ‘my heart stopped beating for 40 seconds’ [celebrity news, appeals to mainstreamers]
• Holidays from £9.50 [appeals to C2DE audience]
• ‘For a greater Britain’ [appeals to nationalist audiences]
• ‘Kate defiant while senior royals urge over Harry’s coronation invite’ [appeals to right wing audience, monarchists and mainstreamers]

• the social, cultural and political significance of media products, including the themes or issues they address, the fulfilment of needs and desires and the functions they serve in everyday life and society

• Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory