“Cross-media convergence and synergy are vital processes in the successful marketing of media products to audiences.” To what extent do you agree with this statement in relation to your chosen media area?

I think cross-media convergence and synergy are a vital process in having a successful market of different media products, it creates opportunities to increase the awareness of the products and then increase profits. Synergy allows a certain product e.g a movie to take advantage of another type of media such as video games and soundtracks like the movie ‘Star Wars The Force Awakens’ then went on to be released around the same time as the video game ‘Star Wars Battlefront’ which would appeal to a wide range of audiences which could be possible fans of the film series or not. Since both the game and movie are obviously related to each over and being released at around the same time, it allowed a wider audience to become aware of both and would then cause the appeal of the movie to broaden as the people playing the game will know something about it and vice versa with people watching the film will then be more interested to play the game. Another example of this same area would be the soundtrack of the movie in which people may download music that is used within the film. Before the films release there was the release of also a cartoon series aimed at a younger demographic called ‘Star Wars Rebels’. Being aimed at younger audiences and also a cartoon it was easier to understand and would cause younger audiences to be more appealed to the coming movie of the same franchise. Also with this being done if audiences of one of the certain media areas enjoyed the game or movie depending which one they used, they could then inform others who do not know about them and then could increase the size of the audiences for the products which could lead to more popularity and eventual profits. Also action figures of the characters within the film were made aimed at younger audiences but then the younger audiences who see the film would have lots of appeal and a want to purchase these products.

Another way in which synergy worked with Star Wars The Force Awakens was on Sky a month before the release of the film they had a channel called ‘Sky Star Wars’ which only played the six star wars films on repeat as to increase the excitement for the new instalment and also bring extra awareness to the old movies while also then increasing the amount of people using Sky in order to watch them benefitting both the new film and Sky.

A disadvantage of this could however could then be that if some audience were to play the game or watch the movie or just listen to the soundtrack and were dissatisfied with the product they listened to/played/watched then the other media types would become less appealing to those audiences, of course the market would have made some money from the audience using the specific type of media, but they miss out on a chance to make so much more because of this. Also dissatisfied audiences could tell others about it and talk about how they felt it was not worth it and so it reduces the amount of target audience as the general appeal to see the movie or play the game is reduced.

Convergence is when combining two or more mediums in the media for example TV/ computer graphics / radios and websites. Difference between convergence and synergy is that while both involve media products synergy can involve non media products like action figures, books. Star Wars The force awakens was in many magazines and news papers to increase awareness of the film. All these in full strongly benefit the market of the media products for audiences with a wide variety of options for them. I feel even with the risks and possible backfire in general synergy and cross media convergence are very vital for a successful market in the media.