"Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices". To what extent would you agree with this statement, within the media area you have studied?

Media products like films can only make money if they sell at the box office , and for the film to make lots of money (above the budget) then the film must be adequately marketed and distributed in a way that is stand out or a marketing term ‘blanket marketing’. Even if the production is really good if the film isn't displayed in distribution and marketing to its audience, then the film cannot be sold well as it is unknown to the target audience.

Films must be marketed into their genre well and major institutions usually have dominance over the film industry because they all generally like to make the most common type of film genre , e.g action/adventure, and as over 50% of people prefer this genre this is an instant way of marketing as its already in the public interest. Will films like ‘world war z’  my average opinion of the film and a terrible opinion in the critics left the film pieces but the marketing managed to cover this up so the film made huge profit , and furthermore with a key actor like Brad Pitt , that has already marketed well already . This proves that even if the production practices are poor the film can succeed with marketing and distribution.so therefore i would agree with the question and say especially with the hard pushing of the film the Marketing was a very key part of the films success.

furthermore i agree with the statement as i feel the way audiences can engage with the marketing definitely helps with the balance between and the importance of distribution. like with the star trek, the head marketing body for the film released an 'app' where the public could watch trailers and get get in depth analysis without the best parts of the film being ruined , therefore the way that the marketing has being used with the production shows equal importance.And also there are separate firms that will push distribution and marketing on films a great example of this is the weinstein company , the two brothers who run the company are known for really pushing medium budget films . one of their largest success points was with the British film 'Kings speech' this film after a slow start was really pushed by the company and the film then went to win Oscars and receive great critical receptions around the world. along with making 414 million in the box office. 

Another point why i agree with the statement is the fact that the marketing can be adapted world wide and help reach different dialects, the way technology has helped adapt films and trailers means the distribution has raised seriously. for example with the kings speech certain phrases and terms would be completely lost with an American audiences where they would be fine with  a UK audience , so this use of technology has by far helped the marketing of films globally .

But in a point against , some lower budget films do not need the big budget marketing as they are a smaller market in films and want to show the quality in the production . a great example are films like 'kill list' this film was not set out to receive a massive profit , but it was used to show the quality of new talent like directors and actors .the films had a budget of 500,000 and took 171,000 , this film is still considered to be a moderate success because of its critical reception. these are the exceptions to the statement because the film is made for quality and not to be a massive seller 

Overall i agree with the statement and would say in the modern film industry the marketing and distribution is key as the film has to be endorsed with the public for it to be a success and with flourishing technology its a fact that marketing is by far as important as the production. jut by looking at films where the production was poor like world war z but the marketing made it huge money .