New media users and their strategies towards global media companies

Technological change in the form of convergence and digitization of media has fundamentally affected the relationships between all communication participants, leading to the design and implementation of new strategies in global media markets. The change applies to broadcasters, network operators, content producers, media products and service distributors, global and local actors in the audiovisual market. However, the key players of the change are the media users. From passive recipients of the mass media, they have become active consumers of media products and services, creators of network messages, and architects of new forms of communication. Media users gained influence over the decisions about the content, technology and distribution platforms. Thus, users have been converted into an important entity of the media market which strong corporate players have to deal with, and its potential and needs have to be taken into account in their business strategies. Thanks to networks, users produce and spread their own content and increasingly determine the shape of mass media content; they have their own strategies, and become significant players in the market. Their market strategies are variable and diverse, conditioned culturally, socially and economically. The change of the position of mass and network media receivers/users has an impact on the functioning of global and national media industries, corporate strategies and government policies. Corporate media have largely lost control over the dominant stream of audiovisual content and quotes, as well as other subjects. Along the development of a global information society there will evolve a strategic game between the media users aiming at the decentralization of media communication processes, freedom of choice, and creativity, and corporations seeking to dominate the market.

Technological change in the form of convergence and digitization of media has fundamentally affected the relationships between all communication participants, leading to the design and implementation of new strategies in global media markets. The change applies to broadcasters, network operators, content producers, media products and service distributors, global and local actors in the audiovisual market. However, the key players of the change are the media users. From passive recipients of the mass media, they have become active consumers of media products and services, creators of network messages, and architects of new forms of communication. Media users gained influence over the decisions about the content, technology and distribution platforms. Thus, users have been converted into an important entity of the media market which strong corporate players have to deal with, and its potential and needs have to be taken into account in their business strategies. Thanks to networks, users produce and spread their own content and increasingly determine the shape of mass media content; they have their own strategies, and become significant players in the market. Their market strategies are variable and diverse, conditioned culturally, socially and economically. The change of the position of mass and network media receivers/users has an impact on the functioning of global and national media industries, corporate strategies and government policies. Corporate media have largely lost control over the dominant stream of audiovisual content and quotes, as well as other subjects. Along the development of a global information society there will evolve a strategic game between the media users aiming at the decentralization of media communication processes, freedom of choice, and creativity, and corporations seeking to dominate the market.