OUr Methodology
How we do media concentration research
Too often debates about media concentration, the value of data, the platformization of the Internet, and potential policy options proceed from a fuzzy conceptual framework and with anecdotal evidence, making it nearly impossible to tell which of the contentious claims in the debate are more accurate. To redress this problem and answer our research questions, common definitions and a shared methodology that allows for “apples-to-apples” comparisons and consistency amongst our contributors are essential.
Apples-To-Apples
Our approach begins by defining the media and assembling a multisectoral body of data covering telecoms, audiovisual and publishing media, and core Internet sectors.
Consistency
We ensure common definitions and parameters are set for each of the more than two dozen sectors across all teams participating in the research project.
The three-step ‘scaffolding approach’
STEP—01
Data Collection
Each research team examines as many of the 24 media sectors identified below as possible, with revenue and market share data collected on a firm-by-firm and sector-by-sector basis.
STEP—02
Identifying Trends
The data from each sector will then be pooled together to depict conditions and trends within in each of the three “media types” (i.e. telecoms and Internet infrastructure, audiovisual and publishing media and core Internet applications and sectors)
STEP—03
Comprehensive Analysis
The data from all 24 sectors is assembled into a comprehensive, birds’ eye view of the whole media system. Revenue is the primary and initial unit of analysis because it can be used consistently across media and time, although audience ratings, subscriber share, share of time allocated to media, etc. will also be used whenever appropriate.
The sectors we research
Telecoms and Internet Infrastructures
Digital and Traditional Audiovisual and Publishing Media
Core Internet Applications and Sectors
Tracking communication, Internet and media industries.
ESTABLISHED MEASURES
Three common economic tools—Concentration Ratios (CR), the Herfindhahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) and the Noam Index (NI)—will also be used to measure concentration levels and trends at each of the three levels of analysis just introduced, and as the basis for making historical and international comparisons. This common methodological baseline delimits our “objects of analysis” and ensures that the entire partnership uses consistent methods.
ADAPTABLE APPROACH
Our approach draws on some familiar assumptions drawn from media economics, critical political economy, and the cultural industries school. We flexibly use standard industrial classifications from industrial economics as a guide for defining and establishing bottom line revenue figures for each of the sectors, remaining fully aware that media sectors and firms need to be defined based on the activities and technology that characterize them rather than trying to forcefit them into these standard industrial categories
LONG-TERM TRENDS
By covering a span of nearly fifty years, our research will help to reveal long-term historical trends, the continuously evolving mix of elements that make up the communications system, enduring path dependencies and novel disruptions occurring across the communications field. This demands that we pay close attention to the details of each sector and their evolution over time and across different national, regional and international contexts. It also emphasizes the fact that, for the last 150 years, the press, music, film, radio and television industries have all developed in close proximity to the vastly larger electronics, information and communication technology and banking sectors, but without ever being totally subsumed by them. Our analysis accounts for both the distinctive characteristics of different media, the changing conditions of media production and media use, as well as the ongoing mutations and power relations that permeate the technological, industrial, institutional, and financial contexts within which they are situated.
FLEXIBLE ASSESSMENTS
Consistent methods enable us to make reliable comparisons of different media at the national, subnational, regional and international levels, while simultaneously providing each research team with the flexibility they need to deal with conditions as they understand and confront them.
OUR APPROACH
Tracking the media and telecom industries over time
LONG-TERM TRENDS
By covering a span of nearly fifty years, our research will help to reveal long-term historical trends, the continuously evolving mix of elements that make up the communications system, enduring path dependencies and novel disruptions occurring across the communications field. This demands that we pay close attention to the details of each sector and their evolution over time and across different national, regional and international contexts. It also emphasizes the fact that, for the last 150 years, the press, music, film, radio and television industries have all developed in close proximity to the vastly larger electronics, information and communication technology and banking sectors, but without ever being totally subsumed by them. Our analysis accounts for both the distinctive characteristics of different media, the changing conditions of media production and media use, as well as the ongoing mutations and power relations that permeate the technological, industrial, institutional, and financial contexts within which they are situated.
FLEXIBLE ASSESSMENTS
Consistent methods enable us to make reliable comparisons of different media at the national, subnational, regional and international levels, while simultaneously providing each research team with the flexibility they need to deal with conditions as they understand and confront them.
ADAPTABLE APPROACH
Our approach draws on some familiar assumptions drawn from media economics, critical political economy, and the cultural industries school. We flexibly use standard industrial classifications from industrial economics as a guide for defining and establishing bottom line revenue figures for each of the sectors, remaining fully aware that media sectors and firms need to be defined based on the activities and technology that characterize them rather than trying to forcefit them into these standard industrial categories
ESTABLISHED MEASURES
Three common economic tools—Concentration Ratios (CR), the Herfindhahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) and the Noam Index (NI)—will also be used to measure concentration levels and trends at each of the three levels of analysis just introduced, and as the basis for making historical and international comparisons. This common methodological baseline delimits our “objects of analysis” and ensures that the entire partnership uses consistent methods.