Convergence is the process by which different media industries intersect and combine to form multi-purpose systems. Media theorist Henry Jenkins describes convergence as occurring where old and new media collide and where the power of media producers and consumers interact. Technological convergence has impacted various media industries by allowing for increased portability, accessibility, and interactivity of content across multiple platforms. It has challenged traditional distribution models but also created new opportunities for independent and online content creators.

1. S E C T I O N B
The Impact of Convergence

2. What is convergence?
 Convergence is “where old and new media collide, where grassroots and
corporate media intersects”[1]. This idea was expressed by media theorist
Jenkin and conveys that convergence is the process of two individual media
types/industries coming together to form a multi-purpose system.
 Jenkin goes on to explain that convergence occurs “where the power of the
media producers and the power of the media consumers interact in a
predictable way”[1].
 This highlights one of the ways in which the internet has developed the idea
of convergence, in which audiences can also converge (intertwine) with
media industries (conveying the increasing emergence of the
active/interactive audience type).
 [1] https://www.slideshare.net/Tashieka/media-convergence-4019719

3. Theorist: Henry Jenkins
 An American media scholar, of whom explores the
development of media and the results of growing
online environments, in which the nature of
audience has developed over time.
 Jenkins has authored more than a dozen books,
including his analysis of changing audience
behaviours in By Any Media Necessary: The New
Youth Activism (2016) and his exploration of the
impact of convergence in Convergence Culture:
Where Old and New Media Collide (2006).

4. Fandom Theory
 This theory explores the idea that
fans have become increasingly
interactive in fuelling the popularity
and growth of media.
 Audience members that actively
involve themselves within media
are regarded as contributors of fan-
culture.
 This theory explores the idea that
fans appropriate texts and read
them in ways that are not fully
authorised (or intended) by media
producers (an idea defined through
the term ‘textual poaching’).

5. Fandom Theory
 This idea expresses that audiences have been granted the
power, through web 2.0, to build upon a produced media text
and develop it; forming a fandom, fuelled by its participating
audience members.
 This conveys the idea that audiences thus construct their
social and cultural identities through borrowing and forging
mass culture images, and thus become a part of a
participating social culture, in which audiences have the
power to build upon the fictional worlds that producers
initially create and leave in the hands of the consumers.
 http://henryjenkins.org/2010/01/fandom_participatory_cult
ure_a.html

6. Impact of Convergence: Music
 Music has been highly impacted by technological
convergence, in which the way audiences consume media has
broadened as technology has developed.
 This can be regarded through platforms such as mobile
devices which possess the ability to serve a number of
purposes (the initial being that of communication, whilst
additional services can be utilised).
 Contemporary mobile devices possess the ability to harbour
web 2.0 applications; in which music can now be streamed
via such portable devices.
 Also, “convergence has affected the portability and use of
technological devices, audiences now don’t have to carry
large amounts of technology to keep in touch with friends
and listen to music or watch videos, they are able to do it on
one device.”[2]
 [2] http://stcmssmi1209.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/how-
important-is-convergence-to-music.html

7. Impact of Convergence: Television
 Technological convergence, like that of the music industry, has granted audiences the increased
capability to consume television content from an increased range of programs. The leading
reason for this new audience capability is due to the emergence of the internet and web 2.0 (in
which video content can be uploaded and distributed to consumers online, free of charge).
 This increased audience versatility through the internet is supported by the idea that “where
television sought to replace radio as the primary source of household entertainment, the
nternet has instead empowered audiences to seek control over their entertainment habits;
granting them the ability to consume media on their own and often unique terms”[3]
 One such website is that of YouTube, in which this vertically integrated platform allows for the
distribution (online uploading), sharing/marketing (advertisement harbouring) and production
(via limited video editing services), has resulted in prompting the increased active/interactivity
of audience members, through the increased convergence opportunities that such multi-
purpose mediums can now possess.
 [3] http://ashleyangell.com/2011/01/the-impacts-of-digitisation-and-convergence-on-
television/

8. Impact of Convergence: News
 The internet has prompted news institutions to technologically converge with the internet, forging websites (such as
The Guardian and BBC News), allowing internet users to access news content without having to resort to physical,
traditional methods.
 This provides an opportunity for news to increase the platforms of media that it dominates, however this does also pose
threats to the news.
 These threats stem from the fact that the internet has become such an avid source of information in itself, due to the
ability of web 2.0 to allow any internet user to easily contribute information to Wikis and forum websites, that such
news content has become less superior a method of informing its audience.
 This convergence, with the move to the internet, also marks the threat of technological convergence to traditional
means of news, which possesses the risk of being lost to the convenience, and often free, ability to view news that the
internet provides. This threat is marked in Waxman’s report in which she states that “the traditional practices of reading
a newspaper in the morning and watching prime-time news on television have been traded for laptop computers,
tablets, and smartphones.“[4]
 This reveals that rather than helping traditional news media, of whom formally dominate traditional news mediums,
such convergence is challenging the ability for physical platforms to retain their place within the industry.
 [4] http://ashley-waxman.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Theory-research-paper.pdf

9. Impact of Convergence: Film
 “Recent years have seen a huge growth in technological convergence. With websites like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter,
Netflix, Lovefilm, etc., suddenly the film industry has become democratised for any film production company to reap
the benefits in a way that would not have been possible 6 years ago.”[5]
 Technological convergence has allowed digital files containing films to be distributed and then streamed online for
audiences. This provides a highly opportunistic means of viewing films for internet users as these films, if distributed
dubiously on websites such as YouTube, can sometimes be consumed for free (of which wouldn't be the case with a
physical DVD (requiring purchase)).
 Also, with the emergence of websites, such as Netflix, audiences gain access to a range of films for a small subscription
fee which challenges the charges of excessively purchasing individual film DVDs.
 This thus presents a threat to traditional film distribution methods, but also an opportunity for new film businesses, in
which success can be found on the internet, in which large amounts of users can be attracted by the convenience of
streaming a film via the internet, without the need for a DVD or the additional costs and lacking manoeuvrability of a
DVD player and television.
 This thus allows films to be viewed on an increased number of platforms, such as mobile devices and one’s computer.
 This technological convergence of digitally distributed films does however pose undeniable legal implications, in which
films can be dubiously streamed and distributed.
 [5] http://filmindustryabl.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-impact-of-technical-convergence-in.html

10. Impact of Convergence: Gaming
 Technological convergence has resulted in the rise in online
gaming, in which games can be accessed exclusively from the
internet. This has sparked an increase in the development of
games as the limiting costs of physically distributing a game can
now be bypassed by establishing a game on the internet.
 This however challenges already established game developers of
whom focus upon physical console and game distribution, as the
convenience of the internet for less established developers means
an increase in gaming competition; challenging the overall
dominance of conglomerate companies of the game industry.
 This convergence has also allowed for games to be downloaded to
the personal mobile devices of gamers, of which has allowed for
the emergence of mobile gaming app development. This thus
reveals the ability for gamers to platform shift (in which some
mobile apps can be played online on computer devices, often
through social media websites like Facebook). This therefore
reveals the effectiveness of convergence in expanding the gaming
industry, prompting the emergence of indie, mobile and online
gaming developers as opposed to the previously conglomerate
and physical creators of games.
 [6] https://www.slideshare.net/cigdemkalem/media-
convergence-video-games