Audiences and Institutions Essay

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.