Digital Media Convergence in relation to Advertising & New Media
Convergence is the new paradigm shift as what Dwyer defines the process whereby new technologies are accommodated by existing media and communication industries and cultures. (Dwyer 2010) It is the enhancement in the structure of media with the merging of mass communication outlets such as print, television, radio and the Internet. Thus, convergence can be seemed as the new dominant method for representing, storing, and communicating information. (Flew 2008) In fact digital convergence is the profound change that does not occurs only technologically, but also in industrial, cultural, and social platforms. Since this shift is happening so close to us, it is something that impacts our lives as well. Thus society adapts and changes according to media convergence. (Dwyer 2010) However, the significance of this innovation is not something that remains with the redeveloping of the medium with the same material; instead, it is the creation or a fusion of an entirely new medium. For instance, we can now access entertainment, contacts, news and plans while on the move with our iPhones with just a click. Microsoft’s XBOX 360 is not just a device to play games on, but the centerpiece of all home entertainment.
Due to its impact across diverse platforms, learning how to use new media and technology as an advantage has become essential for advertising industries as they are forced to accept this change. (Spurgeon 2008) What advertisers now focus is to look for new strategies in order to utilize interaction between new media and its consumers. Since the traditional way of advertising is old school and often avoided by the general public, advertising agencies are putting their heads together to think about creative ways to endorse brands and seek revenue. (Flew 2008) Since media convergence allows advertisers to present information and entertainment using a variety of media it provides multiple tools for advertisement arranging from the average iPhones to Youtube. Thus, the advertising combined with new digital media technologies become more persuasive for consumers. (Spurgeon 2008) Some of their ways of creating new types of marketing in relation to new media include integrating products into shows, naming segments, giveaways, adventorials, live sell’s, pop-up bar’s on shows and many more. (Meikle &Young 2011)
Following the success of some advertisements online, questions of the effects of new media advertising has been put in light. It is estimated that 48 hours of video are uploaded every minute onto YouTube, and three billion videos are viewed every day worldwide from that site alone. () According to the research taken from Business Inside, Youtube with huge audience demographic, has so far offered purchase intent increase by 14 % than the average television advertisement. Furthermore, a 15 % increase to recommend a brand that has been advertised on Youtube. (What makes advertisements on Youtube so successful is the point that consumers are engaged with the ads more than they actually realize. Since they spend a lot of time watching video than they would do on a normal website, it is inevitable that they absorb the ads without actually noticing it. (Flew 2008)
Of all the strategies taken to sell more products, the ads shown on the mastheads of Youtube have shown a bigger impact on its consumers. Advertisers have chosen an outlet like Youtube since the effect of a homepage takeover is very powerful. Here, the interesting case study of the homepage takeover by one of the X-men series, ‘X-Men Origins : Wolverine’ can be seen. As it was Youtube’s biggest ever homepage takeover deal, it was very successful in the fact that the percentage to share the content was over 20 % which means that 1 in 5 users were doing so. (Meikle &Young 2011) Furthermore, despite high baseline levels of awareness, the Wolverine masthead on YouTube successfully drove incremental lifts to unaided awareness in both markets, thus, proved equally successful across all age demographics. () Since then Youtube’s masthead made huge gains over the course of recent years as it was sold out most of the year. As this shows, the tendency of modern media creations to attract a much greater degree of audience participation is higher than before. 
To conclude, the new shift in media has brought media formats and information systems to become one. As convergence has brought simultaneous change across different platforms, the media industry is no longer structured by traditional broadcasting. (Meikle &Young 2011) Thus, media corporations as well as advertising agencies have to rethink in order to face and understand how consumers interact with new media. Furthermore, it has made both advertising and media industries to become cooperative with one another. (Spurgeon 2008)
http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/
http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/converge.html
Media Convergence debate from Standford University
http://graphics.stanford.edu/~bjohanso/cs448/
Sources:
Burgess, J, and Green, J. (2009) Youtube: Online Video and Participatory Culture. Polity Press.
Online Video Advertising Takes Off, Business Insider
Dwyer, T. (2010) Media Convergence, McGraw Hill, Berksire, pp 1-23
Meikle, G and Young, S. (2011) Media Convergence: Networked Digital Media in Everyday Life
Jenkins, H. (2006) Convergence Culture, New York, New York University Press, pp 1-24.
Spurgeon, C. (2008) Advertising and New Media, Oxon, Routledge, pp 24-45.
Flew, T. (2008) New Media: An Introduction, 3rd Edition, 22
42727731 Michael Choo
* Due to certain problems, I was unable to receive the invitation letter for Lab 4
Thus I borrowed my friend, Matthew's account in order to post my Assignment 1.
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