Introduction

Media products are symbolic goods whose value and meaning are only revealed at the point of consumption. The ‘what’ of media content is mediated by the ‘how’, ‘where’, and ‘who’ of media consumption. This makes media content an unstable, unpredictable commodity. It also raises the stakes around the consumer experience as the site where value and meaning are realized.

The experiential value of media content – a commonplace of media theory – has gained fresh impetus as a result of changes in media technology, economics, industry structure, and consumption. The most successful media businesses today are increasingly detached from the business of media production. Instead, they are capitalizing on these social, technological, and economic changes to exploit a dominant position as trusted intermediaries who monopolize consumer attention, particularly online.

This chapter uses the concept of the ‘disappearing product’ (Bilton, 2017) to consider the rise of a new type of intermediary, whose business depends on the commodification of consumer attention rather than the dissemination of media content. The business model of these intermediaries devalues media content and marginalizes media producers. The threat to the survival of media producers, especially smaller enterprises, extends to the sustainability of the wider media ecology. The chapter concludes by considering some implications for media production, marketing, and education.