Commodification is a word that's best describes the idea of turning an object or entity into something saleable. That is, something that can be bought or sold. In media parlance, Commodification is a situation whereby media content are regarded as commodities that can be bought and sold. This idea of commodifying media content is as a result of media institutions trying to bridge the gap of competition.
A review of the history of the Nigerian Mass media would reveal that commercialization was not extant as the aims of both the print and electronic media institution. As the industry burgeoned, the sale of media space and contents began to creep in. Unlike the print media, broadcasting in Nigeria was not in any way commercial up until the enactment of Decree No. 38 of 1992 - the National Broadcasting Commission and Decree No. 48 of 1992 - the privatization and commercialization decree.
These decrees gave broadcasting in Nigeria a swirl as ownership, operation and management were no longer Germany the exclusive rights of the government; meaning that private individuals could now own, establish and operate in the broadcast industry.
These decrees also made it possible for both government and private owned institutions to generate revenue through their content and services.
This hankering of media organizations to generate revenue has resulted in the commodification of media content as a speedy way of getting profit. The fact that media content are presented as commodities for sale is an area of concern.
According to Senam:
"The idea behind this concern is that with the laws that legalized commercialization of mass media contents, one may be moved to think of the media institution as a supermarket in which the customer (media audience) moves from one country terminal to another looking for commodities (media contents) that would optimally satisfy one's socio-political yearnings, aspirations and ambitions."
The commodification of media content in Nigeria has several I. Pacts on the media audience, media practitioners and even media contents. These effects are more or less negative and positive and they make up the crux of this article.
Conceptual Definitions of Basic Terms
Mass media contents
The mass media are the technology driven channels through which mass communication messages are transmitted to the audience.
As put by McQuaid,
it is the organized means of communicating openly, at a distance to many in a short space of time.
They are technologies, tools, equipment that aid in the transmission of messages aimed at reaching a large and heterogeneous audience. Mass media contents are the messages transmitted to the audience. The production of mass media is generally very expensive just as the running and managing of mass media organizations. This is the underlying reason for mass media commodification.
Commercialization
As a policy, commercialization refers to the practice of making charges for services previously rendered without cost.
In the media parlance,
commercialization is a situation in which the mass media raise revenue by offering for sale and charging fees for their contents. It is a concept that has to do with restructuring the media structures, characters and content. To reflect the profit-seeking goals of media industries.
This bolsters the notion that media contents are governed by economic considerations. Therefore, in order for any media outlet to remain afloat in a competitive world and market forces of demand and supply, it must generate enough revenue to cover cost, break even, with considerable profit in investment. Commercialization is not subject to the electronic media alone as the print media also involves e in the selling of newspaper/magazine spaces.
History of Commercialization
Commercialization emerged in Nigeria in the 80s. It's arrival was sequel to the World Bank's Structural Adjustment Programmer as a panacea for Nigeria's depreciating economy by the Bambangida Administration. The rationale for commercialization in Nigeria was for corporations or organizations which hitherto relied on government for funds to become self sustaining and source for their own revenue and funds.
In 1980s, the poor economy of Nigeria led to a high cost of production which at the same time, resulted in customer's reduced purchasing power. This for media organizations (the press most especially), translated in dwindling circulation, falling readership and eventually reduce advertising patronage. The result was a reduction in income for the media.
As a result, many of them (broadcast stations) could not acquire new equipment, and in some cases, only manage to pay off staff salaries as at when affordable. Under this parlors state, programming and the general quality of programmers declined. Most stations simply could locally produce good programme. They relied more on low-budget; cheap format and programmers genres, essentially studio-based interviews and discussion programmers, scheduled assignments and events interpreted with press releases from corporate organization for news.
Since there is a similtude between Nigeria's political economy and the capitalist system of the West, media houses were asked to ''go to the market", a synonym for commercialization.
Afterwards these economics of media production, distribution and transmission being subject to the whims of free market, inundated the logic of purchasing licenses service orientation which was the main aim of government-dominated broadcast and print media. This resulted in the issue of commodification of media content as way of fitting into the free market.
After all, Watson and Hill see commodification as the notion that information is bought and sold because it is a commodity rather than public service.