Introduction Television shows on the computer. Video games and email on a cell phone. Long distance calling with video capabilities. What do all of these have in common? The internet. No longer just a wired peer-to-peer network, the internet has grown to monumental proportions. Connection speeds are infinitely faster than the 56k modems used more than decade ago, and WiFi is slowly taking over to shape the future. The media environment is vastly changing, and the influx of technological innovation has propelled us into a new era. The internet is now the key medium that links everything together, and because of this, other media have begun to converge—leveraging new technologies, capitalizing on synergistic partnerships, and reaching a new age audience that consumes media in non-traditional ways. What does this age of convergence mean? What does it hold for the future? How will it affect the prospect of advertising? Before exploring the future, let’s first examine the origin of convergence. |
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