Media Economics

"A contemporary 'real world' overview of the role of media economics in the global media landscape. This textbook will stretch student and experienced scholar alike." - Lynn Whitaker, Lecturer in Cultural Industries and Cultural Policy, University of Glasgow, UK "Media economics is a complicated matter, but Media Economics attracts readers' attention. What makes the book particularly worthwhile is the clear and well informed theoretical underpinning from several perspectives." - Josef Trappel, Professor of Media Policy and Media Economics, University of Salzburg, Austria

A concise introduction to the key ideas and issues in the study of media economics, drawing on a broad range of case studies - from Amazon and Twitter, to Apple and Netflix - to illustrate how economic paradigms are not just theories, but provide important practical insights into how the media operates today.This core textbook examines the economic paradigms at work in media industries and markets, enabling analysis of the media system as a whole. In addition to succinct accounts of neo-classical and critical political economics, this insightful text offers fresh perspectives for understanding media drawn from two ‘heterodox’ approaches: institutional economics and evolutionary economics. Applying these paradigms to vital topics and case studies, Stuart Cunningham, Terry Flew and Adam Swift stress the value – and limits – of contending economic approaches in understanding how the media operates today. Succinct and accessible, this text is essential reading for all students of media and communication studies, as well as those from economics, policy studies, business studies and marketing backgrounds with an interest in the media.