ESSAY - DIGITAL MEDIA CONVERGENCE IN RELATION TO ADVERTISING AND NEW MEDIA
The following essay will address and discuss the phenomenon
of digital media convergence in relation to advertising and new media. The
essay will start by examining what digital media convergence is before
analysing traditional and new media. Then it will analyse digital media convergence
in relation to advertising. Finally the essay will provide a case study, GoPro,
to examine the ways advertising and new media can co-exist as a result of
digital media convergence.
Digital media convergence is most accurately described as “the
ability of consumers to obtain multiple services on a single platform or
device, or obtain any given service on multiple platforms or devices” (Currie, 2008) . Further to this
statement, media convergence is also a process in which “new technologies are accommodated
by existing media industries and cultures” (Dwyer 2010, p.2).
Convergence is all around us in the modern world. Phones are
now mobile and act as calendars, diaries, televisions, radios, mp3 players and
even computers. They have become a necessity for both individual and business
worlds. The internet and television have adapted to different media forms such
as mobiles, but more recently televisions are now equipped with the internet
and the internet is equipped in television (Dwyer, 2010) . These are just the
tip of the iceberg in terms of the new networked media (Spurgeon, 2008) .
Digital media convergence is never just a technological process;
it creates ongoing social, cultural and economic change (Dwyer, 2010) .
As this change has become a major part of the industry media owners are now
searching for ways to make content become cross-media content (Dwyer, 2010) . Digital media
convergence has also allowed consumers to become producers, creators and
distributors of their own content through these new technologies (Sheehan & Morrison, 2009) . The current younger
generation are doing this as a result of the introduction of the internet,
cameras and applications on their mobile phones (Xu, et al., 2010) .
There is no doubt that traditional media was unprepared for
the impact of digital media (Dwyer, 2010) . Yet traditional
media has embraced these new media forms and adjusted their way of business to
create content for the new forums, no doubt as a necessary step for survival. However
traditional media must also be aware that not all content can be cross-platform
content as the “attentional constraint of the target media platform
significantly influences user experience that may lead to rejection of media
convergence” (Xu et al. 2010, p.311). Therefore the duration of the content has
a major influence on its appropriateness, or lack of, for individual platforms
and the satisfaction consumers receive.
Digital media convergence has had a noticeable effect on
advertising, ranging from advertising agencies, business and even consumers. As
new media developed, there is an argument that it could spell the end of
advertising. The inception of time-delayed and online broadcasting meant
viewers could skip through advertisement breaks. In terms of podcasting,
listeners no longer needed to head the advertisement breaks, rather just the
presenters. Finally, in relation to cinema, viewers could again skip through
advertisements or, at times, feature no advertisements at all.
As the modern world moved into the online forum, advertisers
became displeased with the uncertain performance of new media (Spurgeon, 2008) . The more time
people spend online, the less time they will use conventional and traditional
media (Sheehan & Morrison, 2009) . As a result advertiser’s
realised online advertising was the way to reach their clients, and now “online
advertising expenditure now exceeds outdoor, cinema and magazine advertising
expenditure” (Spurgeon 2008, p.25).
Innovation and communication is the key to the success or
failure of advertising in the online forum. However this technology, namely
social media, has allowed advertisers to communicate with the consumers and “potentially
shorten the length of the transaction funnel – the point between learning about
a good or service and actually buying it” (Spurgeon 2008, p. 45). However, new
media is essentially ‘pull media’ where consumers are able to choose what they
want to see and filter out the rest (Sheehan & Morrison, 2009) . Therefore, agencies
must learn how to interact with consumers and learn what customers want to know
and what they want to do with those messages (Sheehan & Morrison, 2009) . In order for
advertising to succeed in reaching consumers, it must learn to co-exist and
co-adapt with new media (Spurgeon, 2008) .
The case study that will be examined is the company ‘GoPro’
(logo pictured on right) and their use of advertising on social networking forums. GoPro
is the world’s leading activity image capture company, based in the United
States but with distributors worldwide. GoPro make portable high-definition
cameras which are used in extreme sports as on-board and/or helmet cameras.
GoPro have used limited advertising through traditional media forms, opting for
new media forms such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. GoPro have their own
YouTube Channel (http://www.youtube.com/GoProCamera) [a selected video shown below essay]
in which they show viewers different sports that the cameras have been used in.
Consumers with GoPro’s are also encouraged to submit their own GoPro videos
online, which allows GoPro free advertising and consumer to consumer
advertising as friends of the poster also view the video. In addition to this,
GoPro selects a video of the week from a user of their product and share it
across their website (http://gopro.com/),
Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/gopro)
and Twitter page (https://twitter.com/GoPro).
In addition to their video of the week, GoPro provide followers of their social
network sites with exclusive offers and products, not available elsewhere. These
social media forums allow GoPro to interact with their consumers and provide a
cheaper alternative to traditional advertising. There is also arguments that it
provides a more widespread audience as traditional advertising can be too
expensive to cover a global market. GoPro is a perfect example of a company
using new media as a form of advertising and provides an interactive element
that traditional advertising does not allow.
To summarise, this essay argues that digital media
convergence is the ability to obtain any given service on multiple platforms of
devices and allows new technologies to be accommodated by existing media
industries and cultures (Currie, 2008) (Dwyer, 2010) .
It was argued that new media would mean the end of advertising due to
time-delayed broadcasts. However advertising now co-exists with new media as
advertisers and agencies moved online and have found new ways to communicate
with consumers. Online has also allowed an interaction aspect not previously
possible.
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