Competition Images of Media Platforms: A qualitative study of market images and perceived competition structures of digital media platforms

Abstract: The field of competition is extensively studied, however little research has been done on competition from an endogenous perspective. As a result, organizational scholars know much about how firms should compete among themselves but very little about how firms define their competition. Simultaneously, as digitalisation has spurred new consumer behaviours which have paved the way for new business models to emerge, conventional methods for analysing competition are not fully conformed with markets of today. By exploring four seemingly distinct market categories among digital media platforms, namely news, music and podcasts, audiobooks and film and series, this thesis aims to i) explore how digital media platforms define their competition and ii) illustrate how an endogenous perspective can contribute with new insights on competition. Firstly, the study shows that the categories perceive the market differently, identifying diverse ideas of the competition structure as a result of varied market images. Secondly, by analysing the empirical results through the lens of social constructivist theory, an endogenous competition analysis was conducted. By putting the analysis in contrast to a conventional view of markets, the results of this study indicate that endogenous methods can contribute with new insights on competition, and be especially useful for analysing platform markets.