DOMAIN:

SENDER

ISSUE:
OWNERSHIP
AND
CONTROL

BY
APARAAJITH S

CS303 A
ASSIGNMENT 2
 INTRODUCTION
When I was a kid, there was no collaboration; it's you with a camera bossing your friends

around. But as an adult, filmmaking is all about appreciating the talents of the people you

surround yourself with and knowing you could never have made any of these films by

yourself

- Steven Spielberg

Too many companies believe people are interchangeable. Truly gifted people never are.

They have unique talents. Such people cannot be forced into roles they are not suited for,

nor should they be. Effective leaders allow great people to do the work they were born to

do.

Warren G. Bennis

The Internet is the greatest thing that ever happened to the entertainment industry

- Michael Ovitz

Come on internet, entertain me must be the war cry of audiences nowadays. We live in

an age where there are people from different age groups, class, personality types and

locations watching the same content. Internet has facilitated the creation and

distribution of a Pandoras Box of entertainment. It has changed how we experience

entertainment. This is not just about mobility. It is much beyond internet speeds and

downloading. Its about the content that is being created and the new shades that its

creators are able to add to it. It is about the new found liberty to make and distribute

content at your own will with a lessened fear of return on investment.

TV, radio and newspapers come with their own styles and protocols of content creation.

They satisfy different needs of audiences. Also, they are managed in ways intrinsic to the

rules set by the market they operate in.

The internet debunks all that. It is not governed by the level of regulation that old media

has to deal with. And it has generated the kind of popularity that has never been seen

before. Estonia held a completely digitized election where people can vote from the

comfort of their votes and offices. If elections can be carried out like a reality show,

Internets potential to affect our lives can only be imagined.

As for the current scenario, YouTube is a major part of the entertainment provided

through the internet. India has some popular YouTube channels that have really changed

how we perceive content. TVF has taken the concept of a miniseries and applied to its

shows. AIB has been able to make episodes based on the same theme and even original

parody music with great production value. EIC has successfully executed the concept of

news comedy and taken a refreshing look at news and social activism. YRF which was

originally only a film production house is now a major YouTube entertainment channel

also.

What these channels produce is well known. How they operate would require an

investigation of their organization structures, norms and protocols followed. The synergy

of different members of the content creation team with each other and the organization

is also a point worth considering. Delving into the psyche of these content creators could

paint a clear picture of the whole scenario. This study might reveal how the content of

the future would look like and in what ways the content creators minds would work.
 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
YOUTUBE AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF NEW MEDIA

Love it or loathe it, YouTube is now a part of the mainstream media landscape, and a

force to be reckoned with in contemporary popular culture. Although, it isnt the only

video sharing website on the internet, YouTubes rapid rise, diverse range of content and

public dominance in the western, English-speaking world make it useful for

understanding the evolving relationships between new media technologies, the creative

industries, and the politics of popular culture. The contributors are a diverse group of

participants- from large media producers and rights-owners such as television stations,

sports companies, and major advertisers, small to medium enterprise looking for cheap

distribution or alternatives to mainstream broadcast systems, cultural institutions,

artists, activists, media literate fans, non-professional and amateur media producers.

Each of these participants approaches YouTube with their own purposes and aims. (Jean

Burgess, 2013)

YOUTUBE CONTENT CREATORS

Its true that YouTube is and will be one of the best innovations in social media an

innovation that has come to define itself as a social media since 2005 and almost 9 years

later it is still being used as an important informational, educational, entertainment and

social medium. YouTube has created a service for people that not only connects us

virtually to one another irrespective of what part of the world we live in but also makes
us realize that its a small world after all. People come forward and share their ideas,

opinions, reviews and emotions in a video which is put up on display for the whole world

to see.

Many people use YouTube as a platform for various purposes with the main aim of

earning some recognition and entertaining those who watch them showcase their

talents, emotions and ideas. They create videos and post them on a daily basis for their

subscribers and viewers and hold sessions where people can interact with them. These

YouTubers eventually become so popular that they are treated as celebrities on

YouTube. It is their talent and creativity that helps them earn views on their videos.

Higher the number of views, the more viral or popular the video and their creators get.

(D'Souza, 2014)

MEDIA MANAGEMENT

In a dynamic environment characterized by constant technological advancement, new

business opportunities appear in a variety of forms in the media industries. Adaptation to

the changing environment and proactive transformation are crucial to media business

success. Media firms need to develop strategic tools that enable new business creation

and facilitate capturing opportunities arising from the emerging fields. These new

business creation activities are different from the incremental business developments

that are usually conducted inside the existing product-market frameworks; they are

radical changes gearing towards developing new product-market frameworks. The

nature of media management is multidisciplinary, so a multiplicity of theories may better

serve the needs of future media management inquiries. (Hang, 2007)

 RESEARCH QUESTION
What are the peculiarities, commonalities and differences in the management and

working of popular Indian YouTube content creators?

AIM
To analyse the structure and management of popular Indian YouTube content

creators.

OBJECTIVES
1) To identify and determine the structure of organization of popular Indian

YouTube content creators.

2) To comprehend the norms these content creators have to operate in.

3) To study the role of different members of these organisations in the creation of

content.

4) To undertake an enquiry into the challenges and issues that different members of

the organization have to work with.

 METHODOLOGY

A study of this category would need an understanding of the macro and micro elements.

The macro elements are the organization as a whole, the norms it works with and the kind

environment it functions in. The micro elements would be about the people and the

relationships between them, because they are the most important parts of any media

organization.

METHODOLOGY: QUALITATIVE

METHODS

INTENSIVE INTERVIEWS: with the owners of these channels

FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS: involving the members of teams responsible for the

creation and distribution of such content.

SAMPLING: PURPOSIVE

CRITERIA:

1. The channels chosen should have more than 4.5 lakh YouTube followers. (by

Subscriber, Ranking & Video Statistics)

2. They will have to be producers of original content for the consumption of

YouTube audiences.

SAMPLE SIZE : 4 channels