TV channels operate as banks loaning out attention capital
Evidence
In the same way that a bank tries to balance its investments between safe bets and riskier start-ups, a television channel shows prominences, who are sure to bring in large attention revenues, alongside some less well-known figures to whom it loans its guaranteed pulling power. ‘The reinvestment of the attraction return creates mental currency, in the same way that a credit bank creates money.’ — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 160
Categorization
- XREF: This banking metaphor for media prefigures platforms’ role as attention intermediaries in contemporary digital capitalism. — connects to: Media function like banks issuing credit denominated in attention — Michael H. Goldhaber, The Attention Economy and the Net, 15; Mass media function as banks for the attention economy — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 159; Attention functions as convertible capital that individuals and institutions can bank and trade — Michael H. Goldhaber, The Attention Economy and the Net, 14 (+4 more)
Broader Connections
- Mass media function as banks for the attention economy
#corroborates(1.00) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 159 - Media function like banks issuing credit denominated in attention
#corroborates(0.95) — Michael H. Goldhaber, The Attention Economy and the Net, 15 - Attention functions as convertible capital that individuals and institutions can bank and trade
#expands(0.82) — Michael H. Goldhaber, The Attention Economy and the Net, 14 - Reality TV performers were paid in attention rather than cash
#exemplifies(0.78) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 828 - Attention operates as a form of capital that accrues interest and concentrates inequality.
#expands(0.78) — Michael H. Goldhaber, The Attention Economy and the Net, 16 - Content reform could not escape television’s foundational attention-resale model
#qualifies(0.75) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 583