Digital Media Convergence: Advertising and New Media
Digital media convergence over the past decade, in relation to Advertising and New Media has had a phenomenal impact on the way individuals and society are able to consume and produce a variety of adverts in particular within the subject of Social Media as a "Testing Ground" (Jenkins 2006). Now-days, companies are able to test the popularity of their products with a discreet advertising criteria which can be displayed on such sites as Facebook and Twitter.
Individuals using these social networking sites whom are considered the consumers are unaware that when they 'like' or 'retweet' something, they are actually advertising and therefore benefiting the product or company they are globally recognising, in which case the consumer becomes the producer. Christina Spurgeon's Advertising and New Media, David Salter's The Media We Deserve and Rowan Wilken and John Sinclair's Waiting for the Kiss of Life: Mobile Media and Advertising, as well as other sources, all portray similar ideas of how digital media convergence has had a positive affect on the way advertising through social media can make a huge difference in the way a product is recognised. Further, this increased advertising and participatory media has allowed for the consumers to engage where the industry also benefits, which gives the producers an opportunity to extend and sell brands across a range of media platforms paving the way for digital media convergence to take place.
Advertising and new media were given a huge advantage when internet resources were first being developed and used, allowing for the first signs of digital convergence to take place. The internet search engine is, the single most important development for informational advertising since the time of the first paid newspaper advertisements or telephone directory (Spurgeon 2008).
This explores the notion that, advertising in regards to the internet became more effective when media convergence allowed for both materials to combine, creating web-based advertising resulting in a larger number of consumers seeing the ads, and therefore the producer benefiting. Moreover Spurgeon goes onto state that "search-based advertising in social networks is growing at extraordinary rates… in 2006 Google agreed to pay $US900million for exclusive rights to provide search and text-based search advertising on the hugely popular social network MySpace and other Fox network online properties" (Spurgeon 2008), proving that the larger companies were realising the phenomenal affect digital media convergence was having on advertising, so Google's executives made the conscious decision to recognise the rise in Advertising and New Media, and to better their company they decided to invest in a strategy such as this. The merging of these industries, cultures and practices developed a new age for advertising and new media.
Salter continues with this idea of a participatory culture in that consumers are allowed and have access to creating and distributing media as they are actively involved in advertising such as blogs, 'liking' something on Facebook and 'retweeting'. Salter states "Australia is fortunate to have the media it does, the internet, newspapers, radio and television allow for consumers to have a say in what is being advertised and how much success the advertisement will have" (Salter 2007). This can be portrayed through companies putting adverts on individuals news feeds, and profiles to broaden the areas where their product is being advertised. Consumers are then able to 'share' these adverts with individuals, 'like' pages and 'comment' expressing an interest in the advert, adding more credibility to the company. There is also an element of advertising that goes beyond social networks and that is television. The way in which society is now known to engage in dinner in front of the television accompanies the idea that advertising would be beneficial through television commercials (Salter 2007). This creates the idea that a phone company can advertise through television displaying digital media convergence, much like the video below, which shows a Samsung phone capable of 3D graphics, colour, sound, camera and internet and the 'must have thing' reflecting on therapeutic ethos
Wilek and Sinclair, describe how these changing patterns throughout time have also had a large affect on advertising and new media through mobile phones. "The mobile phone has taken over the fixed-line telephone and outstripped the internet in terms of new connections… One might reasonably expect such phenomenal growth to result in the mobile phone being the global marketers advertising medium of choice" (Wilek & Sinclair 2009).
For example, applications on mobile phones or 'apps' is a new form of digital media convergence. It incorporates the idea of gaming companies advertising their product in a more compact way. Consumers are able to 'rate' and 'like' these games, which can then further be linked to facebook, resulting in a growing rate these games are seen, played or heard of. These 'apps' or 'games' can be found on the iphone, which through digital media convergence allows for phone calls, games, a camera and video recorder, internet and many other media platforms, showing the phenomenal affect this convergence has had on advertising and new media.
Overall, digital media convergence in today's society was an inevitable event. With new technological ideas being thought of everyday and a growing rate of consumers interacting with the internet to the point where they become producers, shows the phenomenal impact this has had on the world today. Advertising can be displayed everywhere, whether it is by phone, television, radio, newspapers or internet, this convergence has allowed for advertising to sky-rocket. Participatory media has further allowed for this convergence to be wide spread and the merging of industries, cultures and practices has developed a new age for advertising and new media.
Reference List
MAS110 Reader
- Spurgeon, C 2008, Advertising and New Media, Routledge, Oxon, pp. 24-25.
- Jenkins, H 2006, Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide, New York University Press, New York, pp. 18-19.
Recommended Reading List
- Rowan Wilken & John Sinclair, Waiting For The Kiss of Life: Mobile Media and Advertising
Academic Reading
- David Salter, The Media We Deserve published 2007 by Melbourne University Press, pp. 108-112
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