The reading by Chris Lederer and Megan Brownlow begins by stating that Entertainment and Media companies (E&M) have seen a progressive drop in growth compared to the GDP, but it goes on to point out that it is only true in certain areas. Venezuela, for example has experienced tremendous growth in E&M spending, doubling GDP growth. As it was brought up during the Friday lecture by Astrid Scott, E&M companies such as the ABC are slowly shifting from a traditional media platform to more of an online presence. Astrid herself that she doesn’t want to call the ABC simply as broadcasters as they realize that to stay relevant in this developing media landscape, companies need to adapt to these trends.

Relevance is also what will sustain E&M companies for the coming years as against popular option of youths living with their parents, that demographic consumes more media than any other, are highly adaptable to new digital platforms and most importantly they are more open to digital spending. There also seems to have an emphasis on globalization, as the traditional ‘big’ markets are not as profitable as they used to be, therefore it would behoove E&M companies to invest into spreading their content to emerging markets. With more and more people around the world having access to the internet, it has become even easier to spread content all over the world. A clear example of this is the video streaming service, Netflix. It became accessible in 130 countries, creating a global homogeny where those seeking content can consume it all over the world.

This appears to be a case of ‘sink or swim’ where long established and more ‘traditional’ E&M companies are in consumer transition phase as their long term success depends on whether they adapt to these new changes or resist.