Case Study Pt. 2

 -the significance of the spread of such technologies for institutions and audiences 

This spread of such technologies is important as they can reduce distribution costs for example compared to pay per view which was done before with UFC. Global reach has also been extended past traditional cable. For audiences, choice is now more available then ever with more control on viewing. Improved quality also enhances the experience of watching this type of media

-the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences

Different media coming together also has a great importance on these two. UFC is now available across social media, streaming and other such places making it more accessible. Paramount+ becoming home to this whole new and different media expands in diversity and new clientele.

 -the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences by international or global institutions

By being such a global media is can be difficult to target national and local audiences. Time zones are a huge issue when watching live fights Culture and language barriers, while subtitles can be used it does downgrade the experience. Global balancing must be developed along side local to keep viewers engaged.

-the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends in audience behavior

With the audience having many choices to be made by their own preferences it does end up showing patterns and trends. Watching streams and live tv rather than scheduled showings is popular in the audience. Also the freedom of being able to watch on different or multiple devices like phones, laptops, televisions. As well as the popularity of social media to gain media knowledge on this topic, through short videos and edits is a popular trend for audience.

Case Study

Now we have moved on to working and submitting our own case studies. A case study is an analysis on a specific subject to gain deeper knowledge on the subject and to understand it through a real-world perspective. Our teacher gave us the option to work in teams of two or individually and I chose to work individually. She also gave us the chance to choose what we wanted to make a case study about. For my case, I chose the recent collaboration of UFC and Paramount+. 

The UFC is the Ultimate fighting championship which is a promotion company for the sport of mixed martial arts. What recently occurred in 2026 was a seven year media rights contract deal establishing Paramount+ (a streaming service) to be the official home for UFC where all its events will be streamed. After explaining what this case study should be about we had 6 active points to be included into our study. 

- the issues raised by media ownership and funding in contemporary media practice

UFC is owned by TKO Group Holdings and Paramount+ owned by Paramount. The partnership increased corporate control and the funding will be completely controlled by subscription growth. This is different for UFC as its profits grew from commercials.

- the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production,  distribution, marketing and at the point of consumption

For the production 4k and digital cameras to record the UFC fights have been developed for the best quality film for live fights. The distribution is taken care by streaming platforms and in this case that would be Paramount+. On demand streaming is also an option so the fights do not have to be watched live. For marketing, social media is a huge part, posting about upcoming fights deals and such gets the word across fast and world-wide. Cross-platform promotion is also occurring with the UFC brand promoting Paramount+ and Paramount+ promoting UFC. The point of consumption being devices like tv’s and phones.