Assignment 1: Nadine ROFFAELL

Digital Media Convergence in relation to Advertising & New Media

"None of us really know how to live in this era of media convergence, collective intelligence and participatory culture. These changes are producing anxieties and uncertainties, even panic, as people imagine a world without gatekeepers and live with the reality of expanding corporate media power."

 – Henry Jenkins (Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, p. 170)

 

The way in which information and entertainment are delivered today; has rapidly changed. If you read the mail, it came in an envelope. If you wanted to read the newspaper, you needed to buy the paper. If you were a phone call away from home, you had to find a payphone. Now, all of this comes to us on the same device. Driving this evolution is digital media convergence. ‘Media convergence (i.e. the ability to deliver different media channels via one digital platform) is creating a new media age’ (McPhillips & Merlo, 2008). The new media age is producing new sources of complexity and uncertainty. Today, digital media convergence has fundamentally impacted on the way the world works.

Jenkins defines this evolution of media convergence as 'the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behaviour of media audiences who will go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they want.' Jenkins emphasizes the idea of the circulation of media content across different media systems, economies, and nations, which depends on active participation of consumers. The result, according to Jenkins, is that 'every important story gets told, every brand gets sold, and every consumer gets courted across multiple media platforms' (Sheehan & Morrison, 2009). This predicament is further highlighted in the video below on the “New Media Revolution”.

Convergence under pressure leads to fragmentation (Ludes, 2009). Media fragmentation has led to a multiplicity of choices for consumers but also an array of challenges for brands. Consumers now have the choice of exactly when and how they interact with brands. Brands need to decide how to reach their consumers most effectively, considering the vast range of different channels now available to them – Internet, radio, TV, mobile and print. Mueller suggests that to be successful in a world today where media, advertising and consumers are rapidly converging, “...one needs to disseminate media through multiple channels. Where a print communication might have succeeded in the past, one must now craft the story, get it to press, post the blog entry, tweet the copy, launch the YouTube promo, alert LinkedIn and Facebook contacts and find a marketing partner to infuse revenue” (Mueller, 2010).  Advertising fuels media and hence, digital media convergence has had profound implications on the advertising industry and the way advertisers understand and strategically reach audiences.

In the advertising industry, digital media convergence has heavily impacted the area of online multimedia and social networking. The rise of social networking media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs has increased opportunities for advertisers to reach millions of consumers. Companies such as Coca-Cola are now merging to Facebook timeline advertising which incorporates both product advertising and social media in one (Monheit, 2012). <http://www.facebook.com/cocacola>

Internet based advertising is now at the hands of the audience. For example, a YouTube video displaying an advertisement from Coca-Cola; grants the ability for the user to stop watching the video at a click of a button. This may seem as a disadvantage; however, in fact this raises the chances of the video going ‘viral’. A viral video rapidly propagates through the internet reaching all ends of the globe. This is achieved through user ‘sharing’ via social media sites. The speed at which viral videos travel highlights the effectiveness of internet advertising and simultaneously outlines the impact and efficiency of digital media convergence. This new media age has significantly transformed the media landscape by adjusting the role of the consumer from what Jenkins defines as a passive audience to actively producing, editing and sharing content (Jenkins, 2006). The advertisement for T-Mobile below, viewed on YouTube almost 12 million times, reveals the popularity of social media as an opportunity for advertisements to tap into what Castells describes as the interactive and networking nature of the converged media environment (Castells, 2000).

New Media can be defined from the technological point of view as, 'new technology which helps in sustainable development in the field of communications' (Mitra, 2011). The power of media guides us through a space of no end. Mobile communications receives considerable attention in current debates on new media and communication technologies (Orgad, 2009). Mobile phones have become central to the process of media convergence. They are not just simply telecommunication devices according to Jenkins, but they ‘also allow us to play games, download information from the Internet, and take and send photographs or text messages’ (Jenkins, 2006). Mimi Ito, a cultural anthropologist studying new media states that, “with today’s mobile, interactive, and networked media environment, we are living through one of the most profound shifts in recent history in how we engage with culture, knowledge, and our social lives” (Ito, 2010). Also, Anthropologist Mizuko documents about how mobile communications enable people to remain in constant contact with each other throughout the day, “they wake up together, eat together, and go to bed together even though they live miles apart” (Jenkins, 2006). Hence, media convergence impacts the way in which individual’s consume media. Not only can we contact others at any given time around the country through a simple mobile communications device, but one can juggle between windows, ‘download and listen to MP3 files, chat with friends, scan the Web, word-process a paper and respond to email, shifting between tasks’ at the same time! (Jenkins, 2006).

Despite the limitations that digital media convergence has formed, it has also created opportunities for companies to develop and deliver services through advertising across various platforms. Not only has it been a benefit to companies but also to users who now have access to new kinds of media and communication services. But the question that it leaves is; will converged digital media continue to be successful in a world marketplace?

References

Castells, M., 2000. The Rise of the Network Society. 2nd ed. United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Ito, M., 2010. New Media and Its Superpowers: Leaning, Post Pokemon. [Online]
Available at: http://www.itofisher.com/mito/publications/new_media_and_i_1.html [Accessed 18 August 2012].

Jenkins, H., 2006. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: NY University Press.

Ludes, P., 2009. Convergence and Fragmentation: Media Technology and the Information Society. Chicago: Intellect Ltd.

McPhillips, S. & Merlo, O., 2008. Media convergence and the evolving media business model: an overview and strategic opportunities. The Marketing Review, 8(3), pp. 237-253.

Mitra, A., 2011. New Media and Convergence: A Development Communication Perspective. Global Media Journal, 2(2).

Monheit, D., 2012. mUmBRELLA. [Online]
Available at: http://mumbrella.com.au/facebooks-timeline-for-brands-finally-a-cure-for-the-ghost-towns-of-the-internet-78827 [Accessed 20 August 2012].

Mueller, T., 2010. Advertising, Media and the Convergence Model. [Online]
Available at: http://www.aejmc.org/topics/archives/409 [Accessed 28 August 2012].

Orgad, S., 2009. Mobile TV: Old and New in the Construction of an Emergent Technology. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 15(2), pp. 197-214.

Sheehan, K. B. & Morrison, D. K., 2009. Beyond convergence: Confluence culture and the role of advertising agency in a changing world. First Monday, 14(3).