Watching as Working – Jhally & Livant – 1986
125 – media companies get paid “rent’ to deliver audiences
to advertisers. The money left over from
paying for the programming constitutes the comapanies’ profits
126 – “watching time” is sold by the media to advertisers
126 – watching extra – seeing hidden surfaces in what we
watch (like decoding advertisements) (connotative meanings)
126 – media to get the audiences not just to watch but to
“watch extra” and maximize the production of this commodity at minimal costs
127 – necessary watching time – produced to offset costs of
content
127 – surplus watching time – extracted to produce revenues
(profits) – above the cost of programming
127 – watching time is measurable and the mode of expression
of value
127 – authors explore the struggle over the valorization of
the activity of watching TV
129 – believe that Smythe’s approach must be more firmly
situated within media structures – where exchange value is privileged before
understanding use-value of commercial messages (meanings and their relation to
consumption)
130 – commodity audience time is produced by both the
networks and audience
132 – networks buy watching power through the purchase of
shows/programming
132 – networks then sell this watching power to advertisers
for more than they paid
133 – “If the networks cannot make people watch advertising
longer in absolute terms, they can make the time of watching advertising more
intense – they can make the audience watch harder”
(emphasis in original)
133 – targeting niche audiences limits “‘wasted’ watching by
‘irrelevant’ viewers”… concentrated audiences = little wasted watching
134 – concentrated audiences watch harder with more efficiency
– value of the time goes up, thus, necessary time decreases and surplus
watching time increases as a result – greater revenue (networks can charge more
for a niche audience b/c there is little wasted audience for the advertiser)
135 – This is all Marxian economics – human labor, not
capital or technology, is the basis for productivity in society. Watching is a form of labor, because audience
watching is integral to the entire process.
135 – Marxism – “productivity of capitalism is based upon
the purchase of one key commodity – labor power” (businesses have to pay people
to work)
135 – labor power
produces more value than it takes to reproduce itself – the laborer gets a
salary so they can live and be fit for work the next day; company profits:
Value of labor-power is fixed at a socially determined level
of means of subsistence (subsistence means minimum level to maintain life;
food, water, shelter, etc)
Marx – socially
necessary labor: amount of time it takes to produce value equivalent to
this minimum cost (produces value equivalent to salary) before the company
starts profiting (it is necessary because the laborer needs to be able to
reproduce labor power for the next day)
Any remaining labor time in the day is surplus labor time because surplus value is generated
(profits) for the company
During non-work time, workers reproduce their labor power by
spending wages on food, shelter, clothing, etc.
135 – In terms of TV Viewing:
Audiences sell watching-power to media owners/companies
The use-value of watching power is watching (capacity to
watch)
Value of watching power is the cost of its reproduction, aka
the cost of programming content (TV Shows)
This puts the viewers in position to watch extra (time of
advertising); Only advertising comprises the work day
Thus, programming is the value of watching-power,
programming is the salary of the audience.
It is also non-work time – time of reproduction of watching-power
Thus, the work day in TV is split: socially necessary watching time vs. surplus watching time
138 – time shifting fears of the advertising agencies
139 – there is no formal contract for the exchange of
watching-power; no enforcement – thus, people can leave the room, time-shift,
avoid commercials altogether
140 – narrowcasting & targeting niche audiences
intensifies both , relative and absolute surplus value (because there is a
smaller amount of wasted watching)
142 – main argument – activity of watching is subject to the
same process of valorization as labor-time in the general economy.
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