Keys to monetize social media in the audiovisual business

Abstract

Media companies have started paying especial attention to online media. During many years, they have been the audience leaders, so they have got enough advertising revenue to be profitable. However, they are suffering nowadays from the competition of Internet, social media and new electronic devices. We want to look at the differences among the management of traditional media and the new ones based on the digital technology; we will also analyse the peculiarities that online media management has and we will try to outline what traditional media should do to adapt to them. We will first review, from a theoretical perspective, the existent literature on monetizing social media in the audiovisual business. Secondly, two main Spanish broadcasters, which have integrated social media with television shows, will be analysed in depth; in addition, other relevant examples where social media have been developed along with television programmes will be mentioned. And finally, the key indicators of efficient use of social media in television shows in terms of profitability will be outlined, and a conclusion will be raised about the new meanings of profitability for media companies.