To understand my title you have to watch this video first

As a marketer, I 100% agree with what Richard Serra and Carlota Fay Schoolman say with this video art. The way TV channels make money is by selling commercial spots to advertisers. Now, how does a station charge for a slot in their airtime? It sells it by showing the advertiser how many people will be exposed to the message he or she wants to deliver. This makes us the product that TV channels sell to its customers, the advertisers. If there is more people tuned in, then the channel can charge more premium prices. This is why channels do their best effort to produce interesting content that will make people stick to the screen… Having said this, I wonder how much a commercial spot costs during LOST…

Anyways

My view was reinforced with what my professor Santiago said about how television is run in Europe in contrast to the US. For example, in the UK television belongs to the people through the government. BBC – British Broadcasting Corporation, its name makes more sense now that I know its run by the government. People actually pay a tax for TV, which makes the content different from what we are used in the US. Here we are used to see shows with that whole razzmatazz to entice people to watch because in the end that is what people want.

The power of TV is put into words with this excerpt from the video:

“There is inherent conflict between: COMMERCE, INFORMATION, ENTERTAINMENT.”

We get the news from TV, but we only get what TV shows us, and they have to have an audience in order to make money… so… the stations will only show news that will call the most of attention, in order to make money. It is a business after all. Putting biases aside, how can we rely so much on the information provided by television, if what is being shown is a lure to capture us and sell us as products.

This video art piece is one of my favorite.

In conclusion, TV produces content to be able to deliver us to their client. As an oblivious audience member, how does that make you feel?