1. Assess the importance of marketing in the media area you have studied.
In today’s society, we
all had to adapt to the shift of physical entertainment such as going to the
movies with family and friends to modifying this change by staying indoors and
getting through as much movies and shows we can through online streaming
platforms. Ever since the pandemic started and the whole act of staying home
became very real, people needed a way to distract themselves, in which many
online streaming platforms came to the rescue. Netflix, Quibi, Tubi, Disney
Plus, Hulu, and many other streaming websites and apps were able to market to
its audiences to spend family time through watching their favorite shows and
movies and that during this pandemic they are here for us. I can recall
countless of times I got notifications and commercials from Netflix, Sling, and
Disney Plus in which they added new movies, seasons, and shows to keep the
audience such as myself interested. I want to go I depth about Disney Plus
since I have been pounded with multiple different commercials about new movies
that are now available.
Disney Plus launched in
November 19 and has been the non-stop talk of many, even from my friend who
wouldn’t stop talking about the Star Wars movies. Although, personally I don’t
have Disney Plus, even now, I still support the platform since Disney has
always been a part of my childhood such as the Disney princesses and all the
different stories told through each movie. Disney Plus in 3 months had over 29
million subscribers and made more than 100 million dollars from their
subscribers. The most recent commercial I have seen was when I was watching a
video on YouTube and a commercial for the Aladdin live action came on saying it
was available on Disney Plus. I watched the Aladdin live action movie when it
first came out on May 24, 2019 and I fell in love with it, it really made me
feel like I was in the movie and the songs throughout the film gave me
goosebumps. The fact that live action movies such as Aladdin and Lion King are
being introduced into Disney Plus in contrast from Lady and the Tramp being
showcased on Disney Plus shows that most films and movies through this
quarantine will be will only be shown through that streaming app and not in
theaters like most movies would. The fact that my all time favorite movie, Lady
and the Tramp, was only on Disney Plus made really upset because I always
believed that the movie was underrated and now that a live action movie was
coming out, it only was on Disney Plus. This is a marketing strategy by the
Walt Disney Company to make people subscribe to a monthly plan to watch
unlimited Disney movies for 8 dollars a month to a plan that gives subscribers
Hulu, ESPN, and Disney Plus for 12 dollars a month.
During this quarantine
many streaming services are providing deals to accommodate people who are not
making as much money and those who have lost their jobs because of Covid-19.
Since I don’t have Disney Plus I have been relying on Netflix and Tubi to watch
shows and movies and YouTube in case they don’t have the movie or show I want
to watch. My sister and I have been using Tubi which allows you to watch free
movies and shows in HD since they have more of a variety than Netflix and Tubi
has older and newer shows and movies we are more familiar with. Marketing has
definitely changed in which companies are learning to use digital programs in
order to reach us especially during times like this, we have to fight and pull
through together to make sure everyone can stay safe and healthy. As one of the
audience I see the accommodations and sacrifices companies had to give up in
order to keep us entertained and distracted from what is really happening
outside. The fact that we still have films and shows being released or
post-poned shows us how much money and time is lost for institutions that needed
to film and finding other ways to reach out to us without the use of typical
distribution sites like film festivals and movie theaters. With this pandemic
institutions learn to rely more on technological advances and digital programs
for future references because technology is really going to be our future.
