KCB 201: Convergent media a dinki-di favourite

Multi-platform media content should have television industry traditionalists afraid, according to a story (not avail. online) by Brian Buchanan in The Australian's Media liftout today.

Buchanan attended the MIPTV-Milia TV trade fair this week, and said there were two key points: that content is now produced across many media platforms; and user-created content is on the rise.

It's fairly obvious in the every-day lives of you and me that media have become ubiquitous; content is everywhere. We can call people from remote areas on mobile phones and check the news on the internet; and we can check the news from our mobile phones and call people over the internet.

As for TV, just have a look at Channel 7's five highest rating shows this week. The shows that take advantage of more than one entertainment platform are the ones that succeed: Dancing With the Stars (ranked 1), Desparate Housewives (2), Where Are They Now? (3), Sunday News (5), and Lost (7).

Lost is the big one, it's the Eddie McGuire of television programs--a finger in every pie.

I'm more interested in the rise of user-created content, because I'm smack bang in the middle of studying it for Virtual Cultures.

In his speech, CEO of AOL Johnathan Miller said the future of TV was the internet, and that the active viewer, or `viewser`, is in charge of the programming. Not the programme director or the advertising department.

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Why are we so obsessed with giving every new group of people who do something different some kind of radically hyphenated, wierd acronym, or mushed together name. There's cashed-up bogans (CUBS), mogans (see previous), DINKS, YUPPIES, and numerous prefixes for the word `-sexual` to describe an unnessecarily large number of male gender identities. And in the academic field there's the produser, prosumer and viewser. What's next, conduser, conviewmer, confuser!?
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Is channel 7 winning the ratings because they've converged their marketing with popular internet search engine Yahoo?

In this week's lecture, we looked at fandom and consumer-created content. It's a really amazing area, so many ideas you can explore.

Apparently, there are people out there who are so in to their favourite tv show/film/game that they're creating really cool films and short movies that incorporate the ideas of the particular program. Most of them don't get paid/endorsed for it, they're just doing it out of their own commitment as a fan.

Another speaker at the trade fair said the tv industry must give more control to its audience or face becoming the next dinasour.

I think this is true of all traditional mainstream media platforms: tv, radio (began long ago with talkback, but still needs to integrate the audience more), newspapers, magazines, mainstream music and the internet should all embrace the power of the audience and the enthusiasm that some audience segments have to actively participate in their chosen format.

Also, on the front page of the Media section (yeah, I'm all over it, it's the only thing I read on Thursdays), Fairfax chairman Ron Walker told journalist Mark Day that "now people are looking online sites more and more, and I am proud to say Fairfax.. is almost leading the pack in[online] markets".

"I think we have made some very good decisions in recent times about where we are taking our digital and online businesses," he said.

"Every media board worth their salt has to be aware of future media [platforms]."

Hang on... the CEO of a newspaper company talking about the importance of its internet audience?

Convergence people, convergence. It's the way of the future.
Now let us venture to the unknown and prosper in a rich convergent media environment!

ok that was lame, but you get my gist.

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image caption: Eddie McGuire doing his best impression of Georgie Porgie, circa 1985.