How are media products made, distributed and circulated, and how do conglomeration, integration and convergence shape the industry?
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 OCR 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.
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What this dot point is asking
Media industries is the third area of OCR's 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. It is examined in Component 02, Section A.
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.
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.
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.
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 set-product detail, rather than describing the product in general.
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 set product. [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 OCR exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
OCR H409/02 202210 marksExplain how processes of production, distribution and circulation shape one set product you have studied. [10]Show worked answer →
An Explain question (AO1 and AO2). The marker rewards accurate industry terms applied to the set product.
Method. Define the three processes: production (making the product), distribution (getting it to audiences) and circulation (how it spreads and is consumed across platforms).
Develop. Apply to the set 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.
OCR H409/02 202320 marksDiscuss the extent to which technological change has transformed the way media products are distributed and circulated. Refer to set products you have studied. [20]Show worked answer →
An extended essay (AO1 and AO2), shown at the 20-mark cap, 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 set products (for example a game or radio brand 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.
Judgement. Technological change has profoundly reshaped distribution and circulation, but within enduring structures of ownership and funding. A judgement grounded in set products reaches the top band.
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 OCR 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 essays reward.
- Media industries: cultural industries (David Hesmondhalgh). The high-risk, high-reward nature of cultural production, and the strategies firms use to manage it: maximising audiences, integration and conglomeration, formatting, stars, genres and franchises.
An OCR A-Level Media Studies guide to the cultural industries (David Hesmondhalgh). Covers the high-risk nature of cultural production, and the strategies firms use to manage risk: maximising audiences, integration and conglomeration, formatting, stars, genres and franchises, with the application skills the media industries essays 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 OCR 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 essays reward.
- Theoretical perspectives: applying the media industries theories. Choosing and applying Curran and Seaton, Hesmondhalgh and Livingstone and Lunt to set products, linking ownership, risk and regulation, and reaching the synoptic judgement the essays reward.
An OCR A-Level Media Studies guide to applying the media industries theories. Covers choosing and applying Curran and Seaton, Hesmondhalgh and Livingstone and Lunt to set products, linking ownership, risk and regulation, and reaching the synoptic judgement, with the exam skills Component 02 rewards.
- Set products: radio (BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show) and video games (Minecraft). Industry and audience analysis covering public service broadcasting, regulation, ownership, convergence, participation and the active, productive audience.
An OCR A-Level Media Studies guide to the radio and video game set products, the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show and Minecraft. Covers industry and audience analysis, public service broadcasting, regulation, ownership, convergence, participation and the active, productive audience, with the exam skills Component 02 Section A rewards.
Sources & how we know this
- OCR A Level Media Studies (H409) specification — OCR (2023)