How are media products made, distributed and circulated, and how do conglomeration, integration and convergence shape the industry across Eduqas's forms?
Media industries: production, distribution and circulation. Vertical and horizontal integration, conglomerates and synergy, convergence and technological change, and the difference between commercial and public service funding models.
An Eduqas A-Level Media Studies guide to production, distribution and circulation. Covers vertical and horizontal integration, conglomerates and synergy, convergence and technological change, and commercial versus public service funding models, with the application skills the media industries questions reward across Components 1 and 2.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
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What this dot point is asking
Media industries is one of the four areas of Eduqas's theoretical framework: how products are produced, distributed and circulated, and who owns and controls that process. This dot point covers the structural concepts (integration, conglomerates, synergy, convergence) and the difference between commercial and public service funding. Industries is examined in Component 1 Section B (Media Industries and Audiences) and studied in depth across the forms in Component 2, so these concepts return again and again.
The answer
Production, distribution and circulation
These three processes are the spine of the industry. Analysing a product industrially means asking who made it, how it reached audiences, and how it circulates now that digital platforms multiply the routes to consumption. Eduqas expects you to use these terms precisely about real products, not to describe what the product is about.
Integration, conglomerates and synergy
Ownership is organised through integration:
- Vertical integration: one company owns several stages of the chain (production, distribution, exhibition), capturing control and profit at each.
- Horizontal integration: one company owns several businesses at the same level (multiple studios, or studios plus broadcasters).
Large companies owning many media businesses are conglomerates. They exploit synergy: promoting and selling the same property across their holdings (a film, its soundtrack, its merchandise, its streaming release), so each part sells the others. Synergy is why a single property can appear as a film, a game, a soundtrack and a clothing range at once.
Convergence and technological change
Convergence is the coming together of media forms and technologies: one device or platform now delivers many forms, and producers, distributors and audiences meet on the same platforms. Technological change continually reshapes distribution (digital release, streaming) and circulation (sharing, user participation). Convergence links the industry directly to audiences, who increasingly help circulate and even create content, which is exactly why Component 1 pairs industries with audiences in the same section.
Commercial and public service funding
Funding models differ and shape products:
- Commercial media are funded by advertising, subscription or sales and must maximise audiences for profit.
- Public service media (such as the BBC) are funded differently (for example the licence fee) and carry public service obligations (to inform, educate and entertain, and to serve all audiences).
The funding model explains a product's priorities, which connects to Curran and Seaton on ownership and Hesmondhalgh on risk.
Examples in context
A strong industries answer uses precise terms (integration, conglomerate, synergy, convergence, funding model) and applies them to named product detail, rather than describing the product in general. Confirm the current Eduqas set and in-depth products with your centre, since the prescribed lists are updated periodically.
Try this
Q1. Explain the difference between vertical and horizontal integration, with an example of each. [4 marks]
- What the marker wants. Vertical as owning several stages of the chain; horizontal as owning several businesses at the same level (AO1), each with a brief example.
Q2. Explain how convergence has affected the distribution or circulation of one product you have studied. [10 marks]
- Cue. Define convergence, apply it to the product's distribution and circulation across platforms, and link to audience participation (AO2).
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of WJEC Eduqas exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
Eduqas C1 202210 marksExplain how the processes of production, distribution and circulation shape one of the media products you have studied. [10]Show worked answer →
An Explain question (AO1 and AO2). The marker rewards accurate industry terms applied to the product, not a retelling of its content.
Method. Define the three processes: production (making the product), distribution (releasing, scheduling and marketing it) and circulation (how it spreads and is consumed, increasingly across platforms).
Develop. Apply to the product: who produced it, how it was distributed, and how convergence and technological change affect its circulation. The top band uses precise terms (integration, synergy, convergence) with named detail.
Eduqas C2 202315 marksDiscuss the extent to which technological change has transformed the way media products are distributed and circulated. Refer to the in-depth products you have studied. [15]Show worked answer →
An extended response (AO1 and AO2), shown at 15 marks (Eduqas Component 2 questions range higher; this site caps practice items at 20), marked by levels of response.
For. Convergence, digital distribution and online platforms have transformed circulation: audiences access products anywhere, anytime, and can share and co-create them. Apply to named in-depth products with strong digital distribution.
Against. Traditional distribution and gatekeeping persist, ownership and funding models constrain access, and not all forms are equally transformed. Link to Curran and Seaton and Hesmondhalgh, then judge.
Related dot points
- Media industries: power and media industries (Curran and Seaton). The concentration of ownership in a few conglomerates, the pursuit of profit and power, the resulting narrowing of variety, and the case that diversity and alternative ownership widen creativity and democracy.
An Eduqas A-Level Media Studies guide to power and media industries (Curran and Seaton). Covers the concentration of ownership in a few conglomerates, the pursuit of profit and power, the narrowing of variety, and the case for diversity and alternative ownership, with the application skills the media industries questions reward.
- Media industries: cultural industries (David Hesmondhalgh). The high-risk, high-reward nature of cultural production, and the strategies firms use to minimise risk and maximise audiences: integration and conglomeration, formatting, stars, genres, franchises and the tension with creativity.
An Eduqas A-Level Media Studies guide to the cultural industries (David Hesmondhalgh). Covers the high-risk nature of cultural production, and how firms minimise risk and maximise audiences through integration, conglomeration and formatting with stars, genres and franchises, with the application skills the media industries questions reward.
- Media industries: regulation (Livingstone and Lunt). The role of regulators (Ofcom, IPSO, the BBFC, the ASA), the tension between protecting citizens and serving consumer choice and freedom of expression, and the difficulty of regulating globalised, converged media.
An Eduqas A-Level Media Studies guide to media regulation (Livingstone and Lunt). Covers the role of regulators (Ofcom, IPSO, the BBFC, the ASA), the tension between protecting citizens and serving consumer choice and freedom of expression, and the difficulty of regulating globalised, converged media, with the application skills the questions reward.
- Media industries: applying the media industries theories. Choosing and applying Curran and Seaton, Hesmondhalgh and Livingstone and Lunt to the products you have studied, linking ownership, risk and regulation, and reaching the judgement the extended responses reward.
An Eduqas A-Level Media Studies guide to applying the media industries theories. Covers choosing and applying Curran and Seaton, Hesmondhalgh and Livingstone and Lunt to products, linking ownership, risk and regulation, and reaching the judgement, with the exam skills Components 1 and 2 reward.
- Media language: genre theory (Steve Neale). Genre as a repertoire of elements reworked through repetition and difference, how genres serve audience expectation and industry risk, and how genres hybridise and evolve.
An Eduqas A-Level Media Studies guide to genre theory. Covers Steve Neale's argument that genre is a process working through repetition and difference, the repertoire of elements, how genre serves audience expectation and industry risk, and how genres hybridise, with the analysis skills the media language questions reward.
Sources & how we know this
- Eduqas A Level Media Studies (A680QS) specification — Eduqas (WJEC) (2023)