The desire for an audience often means minimizing risk wherever possible. The TV networks do this in part by promoting content that they believe reflects the cultural and moral values of their audiences. They do extensive audience research, attempting to understand the passions, commitments, values, and relational bonds of viewers and listeners. They also engage in self-censorship, carefully monitoring their own content and eliminating messages that might offend their viewers or sponsors. If network executives believe a show’s script is too explicit or its message is too morally risky, they may insist on rewrites or prevent the show from airing altogether.

The fear of offending viewers or advertisers does not mean that media avoid controversy. Indeed, controversy can be used to increase ratings. We discussed earlier that lurid, sensational coverage is common across news media outlets, whether about celebrity sex scandals and drug overdoses or political corruption and gruesome murder cases. Entertainment programming can also benefit from controversy—two weeks after singer Miley Cyrus gave a sexually provocative performance at the MTV Music Awards in 2013, the “Wrecking Ball” video she released on YouTube received more than ten million hits in a matter of hours (“Back to Twerk,” 2013). And her subsequent appearance hosting Saturday Night Live boosted that show’s ratings to its highest in months (Alter, 2013). But controversy doesn’t always translate into high ratings or long-term success.

Perhaps the most prominent way media industries try to minimize risk is to repeat what has already proven to work. Although they do aim to discover some fresh new idea that will lead to the next big blockbuster or hit TV show, that kind of success is difficult to predict in advance. Media professionals often count on the sure thing: the products or ideas that have already been successful. Thus, profitable films—from Iron Man to Toy Story—are usually followed by a sequel (or two, or three . . . ). Popular films are also frequently derived from successful novels (Hunger Games), graphic novels and comic book franchises (The Avengers), or previously made films (Carrie, RoboCop). For television, this means copycat shows (the hugely successful American Idol is an Americanized version of the British hit Pop Idol) and spin-offs (Family Guy begat The Cleveland Show). Although some such outings are failures, studios continue to mine familiar stories and characters that they know audiences already know and enjoy.