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What is specialization? Also known as narrowcasting,
"it occurs when media organizations provide specialized information for
targeted audiences and direct media channels to different segments of the
audience," according to Dr.
Mike Gerhard, Professor of Telecommunications at Ball
State University.
Kimberly
Massey said, "With narrowcasting the programmer or producer assumes
that only a limited number of people or a specific demographic group will
be interested in the subject matter of a program. In many ways, this is
the essence of cable television's programming strategy. Following the format
or characteristics of specialized magazines, a cable television program
or channel may emphasize one subject or a few closely related subjects."
In laymen's terms, it is when a media company
targets a specific group of people with specific interests so they get
to watch what they want, anytime they want, all the time.
For example:
Satellite Radio: Soft Rock, Alternative,
Classical as well as news and sports programming; up to 100 specialized
channels
Manufacturers:XM,
Sirius
Price:
$99 & up
Radio stations feature specific genres
of music
Magazines:Fitness,
Rolling
Stone, Time,
National
Geographic, Cooking Lite,
Reader's
Digest, Out,
Popular
Mechanics, People,
Seventeen,
and Cosmopolitan; plus hundreds
of others aimed at almost any topic imaginable.
Price:
subscription or from vendor
Cable
or Satellite Television: Discovery,
Speed
Channel, Cartoon Network;
and many more channels are available, plus you can order pay per view movies
movies from the comfort of your home.
Manufacturers:Time
Warner, Dish Network, Direct
TV
Price:
Many offer various deals such as equipment free with contract, etc.
Internet Dial-up,
High Speed, etc.
One must pay for an Internet provider
for full access
Consider
my family of five.
My father loves to watch racing and shows
about forensics and court cases.  He
bought satellite  television
and watches two main channels; The Speed Channel and Court
TV. My mother likes to watch old movies and wildlife programs,
so she watches AMC,
Discovery channels, and Animal Planet.
I like home redecorating channels like TLC.
My younger brother likes Game Show Network
and my younger sister enjoys cartoons so she watches Cartoon Network and
other shows like that.
Implications
People might think
that that this idea of specialization is an excellent idea while others
have reservations about the concept. Some good things about specialization
include:
-
People will be able to watch, listen and access
the things they want to hear and see.
-
They will be 'saving time' by not having to
wade through information they think is not relevant to them.
-
People can gain greater knowledge about their
subject more quickly.
Also, narrowcasting can
reach many different groups of people who may be on different levels age
and education wise. As Michael Cascio, executive producer of Biography
on A&E, the Arts and Entertainment Network in 1997 (reported by Tom
O'Brien) said, "We are a real alternative," in relation to Fox who aims
their programming at audiences with low education and low age.
Though these things
sound great, we as a public may not be thinking about some of the negative
aspects of specialization, such as:
-
People who use specialized products, like
watching only a few TV stations, may miss out on opportunities to learn
other things and be a well rounded person.
-
Also, if people are only reading and watching
things about golf, they may miss important things that are going on in
the neighborhood, town, country and the world.
I think it is important
for people to be knowledgeable about things in life other than what they
are primarily interested in. For example, Ball State requires students
to take classes outside of their majors so they know about the world they
live in and life situations that may arise as well as preparing their minds
for problem solving and being confident in what they believe in.
If students only took courses in their major they would not have a well
rounded education. Likewise, if people are only watching stations on TV
that do not cover news or current events, they could be unaware of danger
or other things that may be important to them.
Also, what many people may not have thought of is
the idea of media fragmentation and how it might effect our culture.
If television has all of these specialized channels how will companies
be able to afford advertising for all of the channels? Advertisers will
have to find new or improve other ways to reach their audiences.
This could effect things financially because a lot of our economic support
is advertisers reaching comsumers.
Connections
Specialization works
closely with mobility and personalization. Mobility
because the applications that people are using are what is most convenient
for them like laptop computers, PDAs, etc.
Personalization because
as we move more towards specializing programs and equipment for groups
of people, eventually these programs will be able to be personalized for
an individual according to their needs and wants.
Compression, Digitization, and Broadband allow multiple
stations to be availible on one program like DirectTV. It also allows
for faster Internet connection and web surfing. The more that these
megatrends are developed, the more specialized they can be.
Predictions
The megatrend specialization
will eventually become more like personalization. It will break people
into more and more distinct categories such as instead of people listening
to Country music there will be stations that play only male country singers,
then that play music of male country singers who lived between 1940-2004,
etc. It will become more and more specific to meet a person's needs
and wants.
Lindsay Knollman
March 3, 2004
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