Lecture 6 - Commercial Media

Lecture 6 shed some light on exactly how commercial media can be defined, as well as comparing it to public media. It exists for two things: money, and in order to provide eyes and ears to advertisers. 

'Advertisers are the real customers of a commercial media organisation, not its readers, viewers or listeners.' 

Commercial media is...

- Not government funded (or license funded)

- It survives or fails on business success - Its business is generating ‘audiences’

- Create audiences to generate profit through selling advertising to them 

- Profit-driven media production

Commercial media is not a service to the people, it is a service to those that provide them with revenue. Its largest interest is in the revenue it turns over rather than providing its audience with factual informative knowledge about the state of the nation.

Some prominent commercial media outlets are:

• News Limited
• WIN Corporation  
• Fairfax Media
• Southern Cross Broadcasting
• Nine Entertainment
• TEN
• 7 West Media 

The form it assumes revolves around the 3 S's - Subscription, Sponsored and Subsidised. Its function is either commercial, propaganda or social.