An Eye On Media: Behind the Convergence Curtain

From the recent issue of Metropolitan Magazine

Way back in the digital stone ages (circa 2004), the word convergence was associated with advertising and media,: and bandied about with such ferocity that if you didn’t know what it meant, you pretended you did. Like a baby octopus growing up, the tentacles of confluence have gotten longer and its reach wider. With the media landscape changing faster than an over caffeinated Usain Bolt running 100 meters, like it or not, convergence is the name of the game.

But perhaps it’s best to paint a clearer picture and define convergence, or rather, “the state of converging.”. Thanks Mr. Webster. A better definition is “the merging of distinct technologies, industries, or devices into a unified whole.”

That point where media ends and where we begin is becoming more and more blurred. So much so that a recent Pew Research Center survey indicated that roughly 21% of Americans are online “almost constantly.”. MUST. UPDATE. STATUS.

Like many other points in history, technology and capitalism work in tandem. In fact, they work so well together these days that technological advances have fulfilled their promise of streamlining, or eliminating, jobs.: As recently as 15 years ago, television news content creators required three people, a camera person, an editor, and a producer. Advances have taken the three roles and rolled them into one to create the “preditor” (not to be confused with the Arnold Schwarzegger movie of the same name). What’s a “preditor” you ask? Simply a combination of a producer and editor; and quite often they will shoot their own material too. But wait, there’s more. The technological advances have reached such quality that the content can be distributed across two platforms, television (linear) and the Internet (digital).

Convergence has also made the Holy Grail of media, engagement, within reach. Historically, media distribution has always been a one way conversation:, BUY THIS! WATCH THIS! READ THIS! For the first time since…well, ever, the act (and art) of engagement embodied within social media serves as an immediate focus group.

Sure the concepts of BUY! WATCH! READ! are still there but there is the engagement element which allows you to instantly guage audience reaction:, “Like us on Facebook!”, “Follow us on Instagram!”, ”Tweet us with the hashtag #weareawesome!”

A quick note about the hashtag. The hashtag is to the Internet what one person with a teaspoon is to a sinking ship. Yea, it does something…just not a whole lot. So don’t listen to anyone who tells you how the hashtag is used to see how you (or your brand) are “trending”…or whatever. Unless you can get one million or more people to use your hashtag, it’ll just float around the ether.

I’ve been testing a theory using my social media platforms by placing a “#hashtag” to see if I can break the Internet. To date, #epicfail.

Convergence has brought us to a point where there is no distinct difference between linear and digital entertainment platforms, except perhaps the quality, in which it is obvious the latter platform wins and is strong arming the former to address its content. Is Amazon’s “Transparent ” any better than “Two and a Half Men”? OK, that’s a bad example. But 20 years ago a show like “Transparent” or “Orange is the New Black” would not have had an outlet. Come to think of it, those shows wouldn’t have even been produced. The content across both linear and digital platforms has become so good that it has led many television critics, like the New Yorker’s Emily Nussbaum, to refer to this as “a golden age in television.”

Unfortunately, the perceived value of the content created for both linear and nonlinear falls far short of any level of convergence or parity. Advertisers still perceive digital content as having less value than television and until recently networks felt the same way. In November of 2015, NBC announced that it would begin transacting both linear and digital advertising sales under the same umbrella (‘ella,‘ella, ‘ella) in the hopes of bridging the value chasm between the two platforms. In an interview with Adweek, NBCU Adsales chairman Linda Yacarinno said "…we have to able to converge our assets as well, so we aggregate our audiences…”

That’s a big step forward. It’s critical to the networks because a move like this inherently raises the value of the digital content and important to advertisers because it allows them to run ads across all platforms and increase their impact and engagement with one ad. A recent report from the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement and comScore indicated that viewers who view on both linear and nonlinear platforms are more engaged, which is a win/win for both advertisers and networks.

Unfortunately, gender and race don’t seem to be converging, or progressing, at the same rate. There are many good things about convergence but there is still some pretty prevalent disparity. Gender and race issues continue to be a concern. Even though media companies and Silicon Valley are still driven (and sometimes motivated) by a certain male appendage and lack of melatonin, they’ve pulled back the curtain and publicized their diversity. For instance, Google divulged that 60% of its staff is white, at Facebook, only 55%. However, that is infinitely better than the racial divide found at daily newspapers where it is 87% white.

The split between men and women in technical roles is not so hot. While 30% of Google’s workforce is women, only 17% hold technical positions; at Facebook 15% of its tech force are women. While Twitter has an even split of 50-50 among gender, its female tech employment is only at 10%.

While gender and race don’t move at the same rate as technology, it would be both wrong and So maybe convergence has not quite made its way to gender and race it would be unfair to say that this kind of transparency is a bad thing.

This convergence train has left the station and is picking up speed. If history has taught us anything it is that once all of this convergence and consolidation settles (and it will) there will be just a few players left standing. Left unchecked, we could converge ourselves out of employment and, despite best efforts and transparency, equality. I like quality content and engagement as much as anyone, I’m just not so sure it is a fair trade off, #convergence.