Media industry

How KSI’s media is produced and distributed worldwide

• He has moved from Zero budget videos made in his bedroom to massive, on - line sporting events

  • His Joe Weller fight had more viewers than the 2017 FA Cup final

• Through internationally resonant content

  • This helped him succeed in the US

  • His super confidence/arrogance appeals to many young men

  • His ability to do what he says he will do is seen by his fans as inspiring and achievable

• Through YouTube

  • By cultivating a distinct, young black British voice, KSI achieves the model of ‘make local, distribute global’

• Through ‘beefs’

  • These are usually with American youtubers, extends his reach and further aided his success in the US. The fight with Logan especially cemented this

• Through music

  • His recent album features popular American artists like Lil Wayne, Future etc.

The significance of economic factors to media industries

In interviews, JJ has been blunt about his materialist values.

His content has always designed to get hits on youtube

• He has always produced whatever is on trend to capitalise, and through sponsorships monetise this.

• His recent content on music and boxing is a strategy to generate more sponsorships and sell his own merchandise. His website is also completely devoted to these income streams.

• He formed misfits boxing to form further fights, and he is the director of Nemedis, a company that runs PPV for the boxing matches since 2018.

Hesmondhalgh and cultural industries

One of Hesmondhalgh’s key ideas is that the potential of the internet is limited by the domination of large cultural institutions.

E.G Youtube, Google, Apple etc decide what content is seen, promoted, monetised or hidden.

• KSI’s career refutes this idea

  • All of his content is produced independently with no limitations imposed by large institutions

  • His ownership of a video production company and streaming platform also illustrates his independence from the usual gatekeeping and limitations on creativity.

  • The obvious exception to this is the reliance on Youtube to distribute his content. But this has much looser regulations on content than Amazon for example.

The We-media revolution

Where regular people, rather than just the traditional outlets create, share and influence news and content through digital platforms.

Before this, producers and comissioners acted as gatekeepers, deciding what they think audiences will like, and deciding what will be profitable (usually from advertising and sponsorship)

Prosumers

A consumer who produces

KSI and the sponsorship model

He has also adopted this model as a way to generate revenue, but have bypassed the big media institutions.

How KSI has evolved over the years

• His scope of youtube videos has increased

• His music - has gone from unserious youtube “beef” to mainstream music with major artists

• His appearance on mainstream TV, such as the Great Brtish bake off contrasts to his low production bedroom made videos earlier in his career

What is the purpose of thumbnails

To be deliberately enticing to encourage viewers to click on the video

It creates Enigma (Barthes)

It also sometimes contains clickbait, “tricking” the viewers