ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the state of the media marketing and branding literature and proposes suggestions for future research. Media marketing is the marketing of media companies and involves a market-oriented media management. Media branding is a media marketing prototype that addresses external as well as internal stakeholder relationships. Media brands signal a priori information that assists audiences in making consumption choices and advertisers in choosing a certain advertising vehicle over another, and coordinates media organizations’ internal decision-making processes. The importance of media marketing and branding has increased in a competitive, ambiguous and aggregative multi-platform, as well as audience-centered and participatory media environment. In social media channels, media brands have to deal with multi-brand consumption situations in which content is aggregated with content of other sources and media brands, and the distribution channel is a brand of its own. Future media marketing and branding research should focus on the ambiguity of coping with “old” distribution channels and audiences while simultaneously embracing “new” aggregative and participatory online and social network content environments. The media market situation provides unique opportunities for future media marketing and branding practice and research.
