History of Media: Cosmopolitan and Disney Media Analysis Report

This report examines the history of media, focusing on two key case studies: Cosmopolitan magazine and The Walt Disney Company. The analysis of Cosmopolitan explores its global reach, digital transformation, and business goals, including expansion and content diversification. The study of Disney delves into its cross-media horizontal and vertical integration strategies, highlighting its theme parks and production house, with examples of film co-production like "The Danish Girl." The report also covers the historical context, production methods, and the impact of these media giants on the industry. References include academic sources and industry reports. The assignment is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of media evolution and industry practices.

Running head: HISTORY OF MEDIA
History of Media
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1HISTORY OF MEDIA
Answer 1(a) (І)
Cosmopolitan is one of the largest published magazines of not only Singapore but also of the
world. It has a global ranking of 2082 and a “local site ranking” of 931 (Cosmopolitan,
2018). The magazine initially started its publication in the year 1886 in the United States of
America however soon it started its publication in various different nations of the world like
Singapore, United Kingdom, Australia and others (Cosmopolitan, 2018). This is a women’s
magazine and has been much appreciated in the diverse parts of the world by women
belonging to all kinds of cultural as well as social backgrounds (Cosmopolitan, 2018).
Answer 1 (a) (Џ)
Cosmopolitan is a women’s magazine and conducts its business on a global basis
(Cosmopolitan, 2018). The magazine operates in more than 110 different nations of the world
and has more than 3,000,000 subscribers from different parts of the world (Cosmopolitan,
2018). The magazine is printed both in hard paper as well as soft copies which the various
subscribers of the magazines can download from the official site of the magazine. The
contents of the magazine focus on a range of topics like heath care, relationships, sex, food
and others (Cosmopolitan, 2018). In addition to this, the magazine also focuses on the various
current political events as well as covers various the life as well as the activities of the diverse
political leaders.
Answer 1 (a) (Ш)
It is to be noted that the magazine publishes norm al hard copies of their magazines as well as
digital ones. The customers need to subscribe themselves to the quarterly or the annual
packages of the magazine in order to get access to the digital copies of the magazine
(Cosmopolitan, 2018). The customers in order to get access to the digital magazines can

2HISTORY OF MEDIA
make the required payment by means of online transactions and other mediums as well. It is
significant to note that more 50% of the readers of the magazine belong to the digital
category (Cosmopolitan, 2018). According to a recent report, the total revenue which the
magazine earns on a yearly basis has risen ten folds in the recent times thereby making it one
of the top rated magazines of Singapore (Cosmopolitan, 2018).
Answer 1 (b) (і)
The five goals of the Magazine production are listed below-
 The magazine is a women centric one and in future is trying to launch a new edition
which will focus on the interests of the male ones as well (Cosmopolitan.com, 2018).
Therefore, with this particular intention the management team of the magazine is
trying to launch a new edition which will focus solely on men.
 The magazine in a bid to reduce the cost of production is trying to focus more on its
digital publication (Cosmopolitan.com, 2018). It is to be noted that every year the
magazine ends up incurring a significant amount of production cost due to the capital
spent on the paper, ink and other materials which are necessary for the production of
the magazine. Therefore, the magazine is trying to shift its focus more towards the
digital publication from the normal paper publications.
 The magazine in a bid to have a greater customer base is trying to expand its business
in the other nations of the world (Cosmopolitan.com, 2018). It is to be noted that in
the present world of globalization the growth options available to the various
companies as well as magazines are numerous and thus many companies and business
organizations often take the help of the process of expansion to bring about an overall
growth and development of their company or business organization. Therefore, the

3HISTORY OF MEDIA
concerned magazine is also trying to follow the same road to bring about an overall
growth as well as development of their operations.
 The magazine taking into consideration the interests of the women is trying to
incorporate a few new sections in its magazine. It is to be noted that the magazine
already has several relevant sections wherein foods, relationship and other
(Cosmopolitan.com, 2018). In addition to this, the magazine has recently incorporated
the news coverage of the political events and also takes their interview which can be
viewed by the digital customers.
 The magazine in order to expand the base of its coverage is trying to cover up
political news and cover the life and the activities of the famous politicians of
Singapore.
Answer 1 (b) (Џ)
The magazine Cosmopolitan operates on a global basis and has more than 3,000,000
subscribers worldwide (Cosmopolitan, 2018). The magazine therefore in a bid to reduce the
cost of its production is switching over to the digital platform where it produces digital copies
of the same magazines which it publishes in the hard copies (Cosmopolitan, 2018). It is to be
noted that in a bid to attract more customers to its digital edition it provides discounted rates
to them and is considering the launch of its online application where the customers can get
the digital edition of the same magazines. In addition to this, the magazine also takes into
consideration the technological advancement of the times and therefore has designed its
online website in such a manner so that people from all ages and intellectuality can easily
access and use the website (Cosmopolitan, 2018).

4HISTORY OF MEDIA
Answer 2 (a) (і)
“The Walt Disney Company” also known by the name of “Disney” is an American
multinational company which is famous for its diverse theme parks in the different parts of
the world and also for its production house (The Walt Disney Company, 2018). It is to be
noted that the company was founded by Walt Disney in the year 1923 in the United States of
America (The Walt Disney Company, 2018). However, in the later part of the 20th with the
advent of globalization they expanded their business to the other parts of the world as well
(The Walt Disney Company, 2018). In the recent times they have started their own
production house which specializes in producing movies for children like “Frozen”, “Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs”, “Peter Pan”, “Cinderella” and others (The Walt Disney
Company, 2018). The production house recently in a bid to expand its business has entered
into collaboration with Fox Entertainment (The Walt Disney Company, 2018). The company
is also trying to enter into collaboration with Netflix (The Walt Disney Company, 2018).
The company has its branches in various parts of the world like Australia, Singapore, France,
Japan and others. The regional offices of the company are taken care of by the various
regional managers and they had to report the activities of their centers to the head office on a
regular basis. In addition to this, the company at the end of each fiscal year had to report the
about the progress of their centers to the various shareholders as well as the board of
directors.
The company is one of the largest production houses of the world an d the recent
collaborations of the company with other companies like Fox Entertainment and others have
more strengthened their position in the international market. In addition to that, the company
is also famous for the quality of the movies which they produce and many of the movies
produced by them have been awarded with the prestigious Oscar Award (The Walt Disney
Company, 2018).

5HISTORY OF MEDIA
Answer 2 (a) (Џ)
Disney is a part of “cross-media horizontal integration” and therefore using this particular
concept the company owns in addition to the production house several theme parks in diverse
parts of the world like the United States of America, France, Russia, Japan, Singapore and
others (The Walt Disney Company, 2018). In addition to this, the company has recently
entered into several new collaborations with other companies like Fox Entertainment and
others. The company is also planning to enter into collaboration with Netflix. It is to be noted
that the most significant feature of the theme parks of Disney is that the theme parks of
Disney showcase the different characters created by Disney like Mickey Mouse and others
(The Walt Disney Company, 2018). In addition to this, the company also produces several
cartoons for the children.
Answer 2 (a) (Ш)
Vertical integration is the process by means of which a particular company several companies
related to the same industry (Signer, 2017). A typical example of this is the market policy
adopted by Disney. The company Disney in addition to owning the production house also
owns several cartoon channels and owns the rights of their DVDs (The Walt Disney
Company, 2018). In addition to this, the recently concluded deal with the Fox Entertainment
is to increase the business of the company in a significant manner. The company is trying to
enter into a deal with the company Netflix to have online video streaming rights of their
movies.
Answer 2 (b) (і)
The movie “The Danish Girl” released in the year 2015 was co-produced by the producers
“Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Anne Harrison, Tom Hooper and Gail Mutrux” (Hooper et al.,
2018). The movie is an excellent amalgamation of the cultural trends of Dutch and Europe

6HISTORY OF MEDIA
and tries to portray the life and the sexual transformation of the Danish painter Einar
Wegener, who was one of the first persons in the world to undergone a sexual transformation
surgery (Hooper et al., 2018). The movie tries to break the various taboos related to the sex
and sexual preferences and was even awarded the Oscar for its beautiful presentation of the
theme (Hooper et al., 2018). The movie featured Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Matthias
Schoenaerts and Ben Whishaw among others (Hooper et al., 2018).
Answer 2 (b) (Џ)
It is to be noted that in the present times the various companies as well as producers take the
help of the method of joint or co-production for the purposes of the production of their
movies. This method has several benefits as it saves not only the production cost but also
helps in the portrayal of the cultures of the different nations from which the different
producers belong to. This particular method is being used by the various producers for the
production of movies to produce movies of innovative themes. This becomes particularly
significant when the movie “The Danish Girl” is taken into consideration. It is to be noted
that the movie was produced by the joint production of five producers and all of them made a
significant contribution towards the movie. It is a reflection of this that the movie subtly
captures the cultural landscape of not only Dutch but also of Paris and other parts of Europe.
Answer 2 (b) (Ш)
The movie “The Danish Girl” did indeed benefit from the process of co-production as by this
method the movie was able to portray the cultural landscape of the land of not only Dutch but
also Europe as well (Hooper et al., 2018). In addition to that, by means of the co-production
method the movie was also able to portray the sexual stereotypes in a much better manner
which would not have been possible had the movie been produced by a single producer
(Hooper et al., 2018).

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References
Cosmopolitan.com - The Women's Magazine for Fashion, Sex Advice, Dating Tips, and
Celebrity News. (2018). Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 31 March 2018, from
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/

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Croteau, D., & Hoynes, W. (2013). Media/society: Industries, images, and audiences. Sage
Publications.
Hooper, T., Ebershoff, D., Coxon, L., Redmayne, E., Vikander, A., & Heard, A. (2018). The
Danish Girl (2015). IMDb. Retrieved 2 April 2018, from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0810819/
Jackel, A. (2004). European film industries. British Film Institute.
Noguera Vivo, J. M., Villi, M., Nyiro, N., De Blasio, E., & Bourdaa, M. (2013). The role of
the media industry when participation is a product.
Signer, B. (2017). Fundamental concepts for interactive paper and cross-media information
spaces. BoD–Books on Demand.
The Walt Disney Company. (2018). The Walt Disney Company. Retrieved 31 March 2018,
from https://www.thewaltdisneycompany.com/