LO1: Task 3: Technological convergence, advertising and distribution (M1)

LO1: Task 3: Technological convergence, advertising and distribution

Within the media industry advertising and distribution is key to the success of a product. Throughout time there have been numerous example of creative marketing techniques and methods in which companies have used to reach and promote a film to an audience. More recently, the line of social media marketing methods it often becoming more frequent. One example of this would be the marketing of the Avengers film. As part of their campaign Marvel used social media to directly engage with the audience and promote the film, this was achieved in several ways. Most noticeably, teaser trailers and videos were released up until the release of the film which create intrigue within the audience and ultimately interest, these videos were also uploaded to social medias such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, all of which allow for customizability when publishing or promoting a post meaning it can be targeted directly to the target demographic and have a bigger impact. Another example of this below the line marketing method can be seen on Twitter where the fictional character ‘Iron Man’ has his own Twitter account with a following of 1.37m, from this account the trailers and stills from the film was tweeted, this was particularly effective as it can be perceived that the main users of such social media are digital natives and as a whole are a younger demographic which aligns with the younger target audience which the movie is aimed at. As a collective social media has benefited audiences in several ways, most commonly the use of social media when marketing products has given audiences a wider range of media products in which they can receive or interact with.

Audiences can also benefit from new ways of consuming products as result of technological convergence and web 2.0 which have seen a rise in the use of video on demand services for consumers. There are several on demand services available to the public in which they can consume media products, this platform has several advantages. For example catch up services such as ‘BBCIplayer’ or ‘4 OnDemand’ all provide the ability for an audience to consume a product at any time or anywhere making it a considerably more convenient method of viewing media products as it can be suited to the lifestyle and free time of the user. Another benefit of video on demand would be the function of being able to record a program or film, this would benefit the user as it could result in them being able to view a product they would not have originally been able to view for several reasons such as timing or clashing with other scheduled products. However, it can be seen that this method of viewing would decrease the popularity of conventional methods of viewing which is scheduled and set out to specific times, this is stated by Sonia Livingstone (1999) as the ‘death of the schedule’.

In addition to this technological convergence has impacted audiences and how they access products. Several black box devices derived from technological convergence are common place among many households now with devices such as ‘Smart’ internet enabled tvs, laptops, and mobile devices being seen and use by a large majority of media consumers. Such devices has changed how audiences access products and as a whole, providing more convenient methods dependent on the situation. There are several ways in which media can now be consumed, for example programs and films can now be easily downloaded to a device for viewing at a time and place which suits them, this is beneficial as by downloading the product to a black box device such as a smartphone it means it can be viewed at any time in any place, although this does require storage. Despite this other methods are still available as a result of technological convergence, for example as previously mentioned on demand and streaming services can be used by audiences to view products unlike what could previously be achieved. All these developments in how audience’s access products are largely due to the development of web2.0 and the interactivity that it brought, such interactivity can be seen to be utilized throughout many media sectors and is often seen through simulcasting. Simulcasting is when an audience can access the same product on different platforms at the same time, one example that is often seen is simulcasting on radio programs. The radio host may be distributing the audio of the radio show to its audience whilst also providing them with the ability to access a webcam in the studio on the website of social media account meaning that the product can view the same product in two different devices simultaneously.