Media Sectors
Media industry sectors
The media industry is the group of businesses that create and share media products. It is divided into two groups of sectors: traditional media and new media.
| Group | Sectors | Why it belongs there |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional media | film, television, radio, print publishing | These sectors began before computers and the internet. |
| New media | computer games, interactive media, the internet, digital publishing | These sectors rely on computers and digital technology and did not exist without them. |
Traditional does not mean old-fashioned, and it does not mean the work is done without computers. A magazine may be designed on a computer, yet print publishing stays traditional because the finished copies are printed on paper. Digital tools are just equipment; they do not change when the sector began.
Computer games, interactive media, the internet and digital publishing are still classed as new media even though they are now everyday parts of life, because none of them could exist without computers.
A media product is something a media organisation creates and shares, such as a film, a game or an eBook. It does not have to be a physical object: a downloaded game or a streamed film is still a media product.
One product across several sectors
An organisation can use more than one sector to reach the same goal. A publisher might release a printed mystery story for 9 to 12 year olds, sell an eBook version through digital publishing, and launch a computer game based on the same characters. The story is adapted for each sector, but it is still the same media product underneath. Combining traditional and new media in this way helps the organisation reach more people and earn more from a single idea.
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OCR Creative iMedia · Media Industry Sectors