Mass media function as banks for the attention economy

Evidence

So that he can seriously equate attention with a form of capitalism, he develops a systematic analogy between the role played by the mass media in the attention economy and that played by banks in the capitalist system. From the moment it comes into being at the industrial scale made possible by the technologies of mass communication established over the course of the twentieth century, the attention economy bases itself on a FINANCIAL INVESTMENT LOGIC: ‘The currency system of attention relies on specialized financial services. This banking and stock-exchange function is performed by the mass media.’ — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 159

Categorization

• DEFINE: Georg Franck’s banking analogy defining the mass media’s structural role in attention capitalism.
• XREF: Direct bridge to the reader’s Frankfurt School to digital media thread — audiences as deposits, platforms as attention banks. — connects to: Mass-media profits derive from non-reciprocal attention exchange — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 251; Media function like banks issuing credit denominated in attention — Michael H. Goldhaber, The Attention Economy and the Net, 15; Networks quantified audience attention as inventory sold by gross rating points — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 489 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Media function like banks issuing credit denominated in attention #responds-to (0.90) — Michael H. Goldhaber, The Attention Economy and the Net, 15
• Mass-media profits derive from non-reciprocal attention exchange #corroborates (0.88) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 251
• Advertising industrialized attention by converting it into a resellable commodity #corroborates (0.85) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 24
• Networks quantified audience attention as inventory sold by gross rating points #exemplifies (0.78) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 489