LO1: Task 3, Technological convergence, advertising and distribution

Advertising in the media industry has been revolutionised by digital convergence, due to the fact that companies can now directly advertise to customers through their own phones (their black box). Many companies have started to realise, that if you engage a customer in an activity which they find enjoyable, interesting or even humorous they are likely to remember the activity and remember the brand that provided that activity.

An example of this is the amount of films coming out in the cinema, and how their production companies have promoted them through snapchat. This includes short sequences that appear between people's stories when using the product, however the main thing I am focusing on, is how studios create snap chat filters which link to their film, for example when the release of the new IT film happened in 2017, the production company created a snap chat filter which made the user either turn into the "it" or the little boy who gets murdered in the first scene, Georgie. These filters have the potential to firstly entertain the audience, and then get them interested in watching the film at the cinema. The best part about these interactive filters, is that users are likely to take a selfie with them, and then share it on their story, spreading the promotion of the film It for free.

Other production companies like Netflix have also used social media to promote their show, for example Netflix created an Instagram account for the character Bojack from the series Bojack Horesman, which featured images and posted which made it seem believable that he was controlling the Instagram account, and also linked into certain events which happen during the series.

Both of these methods create a direct appeal to the target audience since both products are aimed at an audience of 15-20 year olds, who all stereotypically enjoy using social media, and also enjoy watching these movies.

These audiences also enjoy having the freedom of different ways they can consume these products, since technological convergence has made it so that users can now have apps like Netflix on their smart phones, meaning that they can be entertained by films or series on the go. This also changes the way people watch television in house holds, since previous to Web 2.0 and technological convergence, users used to consume television and movies when they were programmed to show, which meant that families/households all watched things at the same time. Now due to technological convergence and Web 2.0 consumers can consume their media products whenever they desire to do so, which in some ways may have increased business for certain companies like Netflix due to the recent trend of binge watching, when one person continually watches the entire of a series at once.

This was referred to as 'the death of the schedule' by Sonia Livingstone (1999), since Video on Demand platforms like Netflix and Amazon prime now allow users to watch any specific content they like whenever they want too, as well as wherever they want to since these platforms can be used in the form of Apps which means that users can use these services on portable devices such as black box's which use technological convergence to allow users to access these apps. This means that families have gone from watching the same television show together on the settee, to watching the television separately in different places so that they can watch the specific show they want when it suits them, this can include steaming, or downloading the films, as well as simulcasting which means that users can watch the same program from different sources, such as Formula One, which can be both watched live on tv as well as live on their website.