Friday, August 31, 2012

Nicholas Aria


Digital media convergence is a defining trend of the modern media environment, influencing society to slowly modify from traditional forms of media and adopt “new technologies [which] accommodate existing media and communication” (Dwyer, 2010). This notion has encouraged industries to evolve their understanding of advertising and media, and innovate new forms of media in order to migrate online and attract the mass audiences of the new media’s context. Nowadays advertisements can be found “across multiple media platforms” (Jenkins, 2006) which were previously thought incompatible, such as computers, portable devices and gaming systems. As this transition from traditional to new media continues to expand, the relationship between the producer and consumer becomes more eminent. 

The fundamental effects of digital media convergence have portrayed traditional forms of advertising as ineffective, replacing them with multi-layered media systems which can easily adjust to the changing needs of society (Dwyer, 2010). In the past, access to create traditional forms of media were uncommon, generally only people working in newspaper, radio and television industries had the proper authority and skills to produce media content to audiences. However, in today’s modern world, people have the ability to access media content where, when and how they want. Whether it’s at home on a computer, or on a bus using a smartphone or laptop, “media...[is] now seen and heard everywhere, forming an intrinsic part of the daily lives of billions of people” (Sinclair et al, 2009). The evolution of technology has become a crucial element of media convergence, “one medium has never completely replaced another, but rather...each medium builds and adapts to the one that precedes it” (Lawson-Borders, 2006). For example, in the traditional form of VHS and DVDs, movies and Tv shows have now become available in a digitalised form on computers and portable devices such as the iPhone. 
Within the past two decades, the growing rise of broadband internet has allowed advertisers to market their products and/or services through a vast selection of technologies and media formats. One of the most well known and recognised forms of convergence has been the transition of advertisements from traditional televised commercials, to various different forms of media on the internet, from simplistic search engine text advertising to heavily funded promotional campaigns through games and online videos. As social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ continue to grow in members, marketers continue to innovate new forms of advertisements in order to engage the consumer. For example, companies such as KFC and Pizza hut have added promotional vouchers on their Facebook pages, in order to redeem these you simply have to ‘like’ the page. Although not as innovative and expensive “The internet search engine is, perhaps, the single most important development for informational advertising since the time of the first paid newspaper advertisements” (Spurgeon, 2008). This convergence has allowed for advertisers to specifically target their consumers primarily based on what they have chosen to search e.g. When a user searches ’18’ tires’ several advertisements for companies such as Bob Jane T-marts will appear.

From an industries point of view, the concept of digital media convergence has provided a solution to the uncertain performance of ‘old’ traditional media (Spurgeon, 2008). As the shift to new forms of media continues to increase, advertisers will continue to undergo various methods of innovation in order to engage more consumers and launch their advertisements through social networks such as Facebook and Youtube (Spurgeon, 2008). The phenomenon of viral videos across the internet has led advertisers to adopt a form of ‘viral marketing’ in which they create an advertisement and promote/upload it onto the internet with the intention of receiving substantial amounts of views and likes. An example of this includes the ‘Blendtec’ company and their series of viral “Will it Blend?” videos they’ve uploaded onto Youtube, which together has received over 190 million views and earned the channel over 400,000 subscribers.

   


Another technique of online viral marketing involves the sponsorship of famous ‘Youtubers’ in order to promote a companies product/service to their viewers. Typically, this involves advertisers hiring a famous youtuber and completely funding a video as a means of advertisement. For example, EA, a popular company which develops and distributes highly acclaimed games, hired famous youtuber “Freddiew” in 2011 to promote the release of their new video game “Battlefield 3”. As expected, due to Freddiew’s high amount of subscribers the video escalated quickly, generating over 5 million views in a matter of nine months.

   



Though digital media convergence has proven successful for some industries, it can also be problematic if advertisers fail to understand the concept of online advertising as well as the audience in which they are targeting. Advertisers have realised that consumers are now “less brand-loyal than ever before...paying more attention to recommendations from friends...than they do marketing messages” (Sheehan et al, 2009). Although some industries have grown in popularity due to their successful advertisements online, many other industries have felt the negative effects of the online community. For example, earlier this year McDonalds decided to introduce a new twitter hashtag promotion, ‘#McDStories’, which didn’t go the way which they hoped. Rather then people tweeting positively about their experiences at the restaurant, the McDonald’s twitter page was bombarded with negative tweets ranging from “being high while eating McDonald’s to throwing up the food” (Polis, 2012).

The concept of convergence has allowed for marketers/advertisers to further innovative and redefine how they engage with consumers, whether that be on a social level through social networks, or through ‘traditional’ forms such as pictures, text or video, either through internet search engines, news sites or directly before or after watching an online video. As digital media convergence continues to evolve through time, it will continue to define the trend of what society deems as ‘the modern environment for media’, adapting to new forms in the future.

Unit Readings

  • Dwyer, T., 2010, ‘Media Convergence’, McGraw Hill. pp. 1-23. [Accessed 24th -30th August 2012].
  • Jenkins, H., 2006, ‘Convergence Culture: Where the Old and New Media Collide’, New York, New York University Press. Pp. 1-24. [Accessed 24th -30th August 2012].
  • Spurgeon, C., 2008, ‘Advertising and New Media’. Oxon, Routledge. pp. 24-45. [Accessed 24th -30th August 2012].

Recommended Readings


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