ABSTRACT Research on media success factors is a fragmented field. Definitions, measures, and methods vary, and findings are often inconsistent. In an attempt to fill this perceived research gap, we distilled generic success factors of media products from the literature. Guided by theory and empirical findings, these factors were aggregated to complex concepts, building blocks of success that we further investigated in an exploratory qualitative study. We found that the building blocks are applicable to all types of media, independent of seriality and content types of media products. Subsequently the research question of this article is: Which building blocks of success are most important for media products? To answer this question, we conducted an online survey of 255 media professionals in print, audio-visual, and online media in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. To analyze our data, we deployed qualitative comparative analysis, a method based on set theory that is suitable to investigate complex causality. We conclude that four building blocks are necessary for success: “good” distribution, environmental orientation, form/design, and human resources are preconditions for achieving success in terms of audience market share. In addition, three patterns emerge in the sufficient paths (combinations of building blocks) to success. Which route to success a media product shows can be related to the width of its topical scope and the corresponding projected audience size.

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确定媒体产品受众成功的途径：媒体决策者的观点

摘要 媒体成功因素的研究是一个支离破碎的领域。定义、措施和方法各不相同，结果往往不一致。为了填补这一感知研究空白，我们从文献中提炼出媒体产品的通用成功因素。在理论和实证研究结果的指导下，这些因素被汇总为复杂的概念，是我们在探索性定性研究中进一步调查的成功的基石。我们发现构建块适用于所有类型的媒体，独立于媒体产品的序列和内容类型。随后本文的研究问题是：对于媒体产品来说，哪些成功的基石最重要？为了回答这个问题，我们对奥地利印刷、视听和在线媒体领域的 255 名媒体专业人士进行了在线调查，德国和瑞士。为了分析我们的数据，我们部署了定性比较分析，这是一种基于集合论的方法，适用于调查复杂的因果关系。我们得出的结论是，成功需要四个组成部分：“良好”的分布、环境导向、形式/设计和人力资源是在观众市场份额方面取得成功的先决条件。此外，在通往成功的充分路径（构建块的组合）中出现了三种模式。媒体产品展示的成功途径与它的话题范围的宽度和相应的预计受众规模有关。我们得出的结论是，成功需要四个组成部分：“良好”的分布、环境导向、形式/设计和人力资源是在观众市场份额方面取得成功的先决条件。此外，在通往成功的充分路径（构建块的组合）中出现了三种模式。媒体产品展示的成功途径与它的话题范围的宽度和相应的预计受众规模有关。我们得出的结论是，成功需要四个组成部分：“良好”的分布、环境导向、形式/设计和人力资源是在观众市场份额方面取得成功的先决条件。此外，在通往成功的充分路径（构建块的组合）中出现了三种模式。媒体产品展示的成功途径与它的话题范围的宽度和相应的预计受众规模有关。