There's a reason why the airwaves are filled with right-wingers — and it's all about big business

[DonViejo]

There won’t be a liberal Rush: The economics of conservative media

There's a reason why the airwaves are filled with right-wingers — and it's all about big business

JEFFREY M. BERRY AND SARAH SOBIERAJ

When we think about outrage media, we think about the competition between left and right. We see those with whom we agree working to promote worthy ideas that compete with those advanced by the other side. The real competition in the Outrage Industry, though, is for advertising dollars. Each day producers, hosts, and bloggers try to fashion content to draw more viewers, listeners, and readers so that they can at least survive financially, if not prosper. This discussion of business practices within the cable, talk radio, and political blog sectors provides some context for determining why outrage has surged in recent years. The perfect storm may have provided greater opportunity for outrage but entrepreneurs had to find formats and content that would attract advertising revenue, which can only be done by delivering audiences.

We begin with a fundamental problem that all types of individual businesses face: How do you differentiate your product from those that are already in the marketplace? In a competitive world with more supply than demand, which businesses win out? And how are business decisions made about the type and level of outrage that is produced? From product differentiation, we turn to profitability. Developing a product and making money from it are two different things. The financial underpinnings of each of the three sectors are examined in turn.

We also look at brand identity to try to better understand how outrage is marketed. In this context we ask how portable is outrage — can companies build beyond the personalities that define their programs or blogs? Finally, we place the new incivility within the framework of competitive advantage. How and why does outrage, delivered day-in, day-out by host or writer, provide advantages in the marketplace? Given the harshness of outrage talk, are there any limits to what hosts and writers can say? Are there constraints imposed by the market on the language that is used?

Product differentiation

Facing competition, businesses within each sector must find ways of building a loyal clientele and, they hope, expand upon their base. That’s no small challenge. In cable television, product differentiation is abundantly clear: There is MSNBC on the left, Fox News on the right, and CNN in the center. CNN itself has only episodically offered outrage programming but did well with Glenn Beck before he left for Fox and with Lou Dobbs, who railed incessantly against illegal immigration on his financial news program before he abruptly quit the network in 2009. In the evenings when cable news viewing is at its highest, CNN has struggled against Fox and MSNBC.

full article
http://www.salon.com/2013/12/28/there_wont_be_a_liberal_rush_the_economics_of_conservative_media/

[Laelth]

1. k&r for the truth, however depressing it may be. n/t

-Laelth

[Mnemosyne]

2. K&R nt