Traditional Media vs New Media Essay Example

and news, it makes it a very influential and attractive medium for advertisers. The market has grown massively in the past years, opening opportunities for television networks to gain revenue through sponsorship. In the current age almost all Television networks are funded by private advertising companies, which purchase blocks of broadcast time in order to promote their products. Various programs ranging from entertainment to weather forecasts are overflowing with product advertisements.

Although television had been dominating the world for decades, the revolutionary potential of the Internet is posing as a threat to the idea of traditional media. Internet in as a form of a communication that is undeniably the best source for interaction and most importantly it has no limits when it comes to time and space. Exploring this further, it can be easily said that the Internet has offered people a chance of expressing themselves, communication and a blank canvas, which encourages individuals to explore and develop their own creativity.

Whether it is vlogging or making music or videos, the Internet allows for individualism to flourish from which new trends have emerged. One of these increasingly popular trends is the new wave of social networking: Figures from a survey on digital media consumption showed that time spent on social media and blogging sites rose from 47% in September 2009 to 50% in March 2010 and time spent watching TV online went up from 19% to 24%. Lardinois 2010) This clearly shows how online TV streaming has impacted on the today’s society, enabling users to access and play back programs to their own convenience. Websites such as Youtube appear to be the beginning

of a new era of individual filmmaking. The ease of producing one’s own ideas and uploading it for millions of people to see for no cost at all is phenomenal. On top of this, Youtube has begun advertising on the more popular channels, which gain high viewer traffic that gives users to gain revenue for themselves.

This not only benefits the individual, but it also can create profits and promotions for companies who advertise through this method. If a few thousand viewers see the same advert before watching the same video on Youtube, then that company has had an extra few thousand views on their advertising campaign that would have not have been achievable without the Internet. The rise of social networking such as Facebook or Twitters gave individuals new opportunities for people to share their ideas and information.

Websites such as YouTube and online TV streaming such as iPlayer or 4 on Demand had played a leading role in creating an environment where each individual can have a freedom of choosing what they want to view. Consequently the Internet can described as an “open source, free posting, decentralized broadcasting, serendipitous interaction, purpose oriented communication, and shared creation that find their expression on the Internet. ” (Castells 2001: 200) Websites have a great meaning of interaction due to its nearly infinite possibilities of expressing personal creativity.

It is also important to say that online environment has a unique approach towards the consumer, which is centered on a specific and customizable content, providing a “much more individualized experience than the ‘one-to-many’ structure of traditional mass media. ” (Curran and Morley 2006: 280) Throughout

recent years web has secured its place in society, strengthening its position and revealing its advantages over traditional processes of production and distribution.

In the current climate of economic pressures, Internet offers an alternative that is considered to be inexpensive when compared to the traditional distribution of music, magazines or newspapers where physical resources are a fundamental part of the production process. Lowering costs also promote competition as it creates opportunities for smaller organisations to challenge the more established firms. “With a number of large newspaper groups recently investing millions in new media technologies, in an attempt to capture this growing market for alternative media consumption. (KPMG News 2007)

This resulted in traditional media companies beginning adapting their approach in order to keep up with the ever expanding world of media. Through investing into online presence, they not only made themselves available to their current users but most importantly began to generate profit through online advertising. Through this process is not only companies benefit, but also the firms which place their products on a particular website. This enables companies to reach a specific audience through a particular website that accommodates these groups of specific users.

This supports the idea that “new advertising models no longer seek to capture masses, but try to target individual consumers, and tailor advertising to their interests and needs. ” (Elkin and Slazberger 2004: 32) Sources that were previously limited or even restricted to some are now widely available. It seems that Internet has much more less limitations when compared with traditional media, rising in usage of peer-to-peer software such as Limewire or BiTorrent offers media files right

on demand. However such distribution of material raises the issue of piracy and copyright, which is a particular concern for record companies.

Since the P2P software is so easily downloadable and widely available to individuals with an Internet connection, this presents the user with a simple choice of buying or simply downloading a free digital version of the same song. “Research carried out in 16 countries by the record industry body found that an estimated 40bn files were illegally shared in 2008. ” (Swash 2009) This clearly shows the extent of the problem that record companies have to deal with, loosing vast amounts of money through this illegal activity.

Despite the competition from illegal music downloads sale f UK singles rose by “32. 7%, with more than 152m singles topping the 2008 record of 115. 1m. During 2009, 98% of singles, some 149. 7m single tracks and bundles, were sold in digital formats. ” (BPI 2010) This rise in figures rises from the recent technological succession of the MP3 format, which is increasingly popular in the age of iPods and highly portable devices. There are still a large number of traditionalists, which prefer to purchase CD is a form of a physical object, opposed to a digital file, which is stored on the hard drive.

Throughout the previous analysis it can be said that Internet technology clearly had some sort of impact on the traditional media, but to what extent has the old media resisted and influenced the Internet in the current climate. Figures released by Veronis Shuler Stevenson forecast in 2007 reveal that both of the biggest US spending segments are

made up of entertainment, which break down into cable, satellite television and entertainment media followed by newspaper publishing and broadcast television.

According to the figures, Internet and mobile services top the consumer magazine publishing along with broadcast and satellite radio, giving a clear indication of its domination over the lower parts of old media segments. Although the figures show a major increase in Internet spending, predicted to double by 2011, it still seems that I cannot possibly compete with the medium of broadcast television.