Synergy and Media Convergence

 Synergy and Media Convergence 

Synergy: The use of multiple companies and platforms to promote a product. 

• Can be independent companies, or subsidiaries of conglomerates. 

• Example: A range of toys or clothing tied into a film can also fit within this (Disney Channel Promo Features, Disney Store Clothing Range, and Hollywood Records Flim SoundTrack) 

Advantages and Disadvantages: 

• Greater market exposure: More outlets mean more people will see products relating to the Intellectual Property meaning a broader audience is targeted.

• Greater Profits: More exposure means a greater likelihood of box-office success, but also additional supporting products such as a clothing range create an additional income stream. 

Big vs Small

• Larger companies have greater vertical and horizontal integration, making it easier to use synergy. 

• Greater resources make it easier to address multiple platforms. 

• Example: Television interviews and big companies like Disney.

• Smaller studios find it challenging to achieve synergy because they struggle to find resources. This means they will be more likely to need to cooperate to allow for synergy.

• Cooperation between separate companies for synergy is sometimes referred to as symbiosis. 

• The vast resources available to the big conglomerates allow them to address a larger number of media platforms and thus a greater level of convergence. This means audiences are faced with a huge variety of different forms of promotion and distribution for various products related to their films. 

• Limited resources available to smaller independent studios mean they are able to address fewer media platforms and as a result, gain smaller market exposure. 

Cross-Media Convergence

• Describes the multiple Media products that all combine into a single Intellectual Property. 

• Examples: Facebook, Instagram, Avengers video games, posters, banners, trailers 

Not all forms of Convergence are expensive

• Social media pages are free and companies are using them more and more in creative ways as their platforms grow. 

Nintendo Synergy 

• Super Nintendo World attractions vs products 

Super Nintendo World is a theme park under construction at Universal Studios, Japan. Shigeru Miyamoto, one of the representative directors at Nintendo stated that their plan is to have Super Nintendo World open before the Tokyo Olympics and then expand to Universal Studios in Hollywood and Orlando. Pivoting into a large profit-seeking conglomerate company has been taken into consideration, however, Nintendo has stated that they would rather grow profits as a result of always challenging themselves to develop new value than investing capital to expand their firm. Licensed Nintendo IP is collaborating on this project with Universal Parks & Resorts and Universal Studios Japan. Nintendo has also mentioned talking about a number of other projects that would make active use of their IP. It is expected that families that have played Super Mario are to go to this theme park and introduce their kids to this world, with this being one of many expectations synergy will be seen in the video game platforms business.