What Are Examples of Media Convergence?
Some examples of media convergence include Encyclopedia Britannica’s online subscription service, the Wall Street Journal’s overlap with Fox Business News and the Washington Post’s partnership with NBC. Media convergence describes the collaboration between, or fusion of, at least two types of media in mutually beneficial projects. It usually involves a process that decouples content from media, allowing the same story or entertainment to exist in multiple forms.
The different types of media, including print, radio, television and Internet, are in direct competition for advertiser market share. However, in certain cases, convergence and collaboration among these competitors are beneficial for both. For example, on reality television shows, such as “Dancing with the Stars” or “American Idol,” producers use the Internet to drive voting and audience interest, posting clips of performances or extras online in order to promote upcoming episodes.
Media convergence is not a new concept. Early radio stations partnered with newspapers in order to read news on the air, for instance, and MTV merged radio and television to a certain extent. With the advent of the Internet, however, possibilities for media convergence have exploded. Marketers have experimented with simultaneous product placement in broadcast shows and sales on the show’s website. Print newspapers and magazines depend more on their Internet presence for income and audience reach, while websites produce content for television, radio and print pages to reach different populations. As technology increases in ubiquity, media convergence also increases.
