Digital media - Research Paper Example

? Digital Media Research DIGITAL MEDIA RESEARCH What is the value of Digital Media in the Sports and Entertainment industry? What will be the effect of digital media on the broadcast television industry in the next five years? Digital media has revolutionalised the experience that fans have in sports and entertainment, which in turn, has improved revenue streams. Universities, leagues, venues, and teams around the globe are now harnessing the power of digital media for the delivery of more personalized and powerful fan experiences. These are geared towards driving their competitive advantage, simplifying venue operations, and realizing new opportunities for growth (Aris, 2009). Digital media in the sports and entertainment industry has enabled greater growth and innovation. This is, through enabling industry players, to implement a single foundation networks that serve their business and aids in its growth. It improves content protection via integration of data into an end-to-end system that aids in the reduction of piracy, which was a cause of huge pilferage, thus increasing revenue. Digital media ensures the delivery of virtually limitless, which has allowed sport to attract new audiences at a lower cost (Rayburn, 2012). Digital media also improves fan engagement, which is achieved by transforming the venue, whether for sport or entertainment. This will involve the delivery of live video and custom-made content to all monitors at the venue. The broadcast television industry will be a major beneficiary of digital media in the next five years, especially with the convergence revolution. Convergence is a trend via which various aspects of telecommunication, broadcasting, and computing are brought together into one digital bit-stream (Hutchins, 2012). Television revenues are bound to increase significantly, especially as most sport-oriented TV stations have their own integrated TV-mobile-computer system. For example, ESPN already has ESPN mobile, which offers to stream video, as well as other NFL content that could significantly enhance the NFL product. This will see subscriptions and advertising revenues increase, as will the number of channels as more quality content becomes available with the evolution in digital media content. 2. How do you see E-Commerce evolving in the next five years? Identify the trends in E-Commerce, Mobile Commerce and Social Commerce (Sales made directly through social networks or sales made from social media referrals) today and where you expect them to be in five years. Mobile commerce is growing faster than social commerce. E-commerce in 5 years will become a concept that is very inseparable from the internet, especially as e-shopping becomes more natural and popular. Simultaneously, severe rivalry in e-commerce services is expected to intensify the development of e-commerce. Therefore, the future trends inherent in e-commerce are evolution and growth of internet sales (Laudon, 2010). As more people become held up by household and work duties, the internet will avail them with the opportunity of saving time and getting the best prices. Additionally, since the internet has removed the factor of geography from sales, the tendency of quantity to quality inherent in e-commerce will become more obvious. Therefore, to survive e-store-owners will have to employ opportunely modern technologies to achieve appealing presentation of goods, user friendliness, and attractive design in order to attract more e-customers. Firstly, current trend in mobile commerce involves location based mobile advertising that is used to drive in-store traffic whereby businesses use mobile advertising as a means of driving foot traffic. Secondly, it involves using SMS to build databases and send out messages to customers to inform them of sales and mobile exclusives. Thirdly, QR codes whereby retailers implant the codes into mail, magazines, and posters, which can be read using mobile devices and give information regarding the business (Agudo, 2009). A trend that is expected to escalate in the coming five years is near field communication that allows consumers to interact, using their mobile phones, with real world objects like shop windows, clothes and posters. In social commerce, current trends include the social shopping cart, personalized recommendations, shopping on Facebook, sharing purchases with one’s colleagues and friends before buying, and giving rewards for social interactions. One trend that is due to evolve in the coming five years will be social currency with virtual currency gaining acceptance as it does in online gaming (Marsden, 2012). 3. Identify the most profound impact that digital media has had on Society in the past three years. The biggest impact of digital media has been on business. First, it has allowed for faster information as companies can now get information to their customers faster instead of relying on newspapers and inserts to announce sales (Wikstrom, 2012). Companies can now inform customers on promotions via internet ads, their websites, social networking, and email. It also allows for greater reach, meaning that businesses can get to more customers than before. One promotion that features a freebie or a give away can now reach thousands of fans via Facebook, text messages, and email. This means that the business can send messages to consumers by just the touch of a button. In addition, the consumer can get back and give feedback. The use of digital media results in the use of new technology, in the creation and support of the media. New technology could act as an asset for the business. By, using laptops and smart phones to access digital media, the businessman can also influence other business areas positively. For instance, using mobile technology to communicate with the customers can also be utilized to communicate with one’s employees. Finally, the digital media provide for more options in communication with customers. Instead of using radio or TV commercials alone, a business can combine visual, audio, interactive, and text media top appeal to a diverse audience possessing differentiated preferences (Ess, 2009). 4. What jobs will be in demand over the next three years associated with digital media? Digital media will create jobs like game designer, animator, sound producer, digital illustrator, graphic designer, animator engineer, presentation artist and art director. The individuals in the digital media especially those in the motion pictures and video industries tend to enjoy a wide range of job opportunities (Packard, 2012). U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) postulates that there is a possibility of employment in the motion pictures and video industry rising by over 10%, which is above the average for all industries in the next 3 years. Good opportunities exist for individuals who are likely to work in animation, multimedia art and digital filming. A continuous increase in demand for multimedia artwork is expected to lead to job growth like for 3-dimensional videos, advanced special effects and video games that are more sophisticated. The expansion of mobile technologies over the next 3 years will also increase the availability of job opportunities (O’Gorman, 2006). As the years go by, the digital media industry continues evolving hence providing career options on both fulltime and freelance basis for business professionals with a background in technology. References Agudo, J. Cross, B. Diaz, G. and Dorloff, F. (2009): Techniques and Applications for Mobile Commerce: Proceedings of TAMoCo. IOS press. Aris, A. and Bughin, J. (2009): Managing Media Companies (2nd edn). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. Bennett, J. and Strange, N. (2011): Television as Digital Media. Duke University Press. Ess, C. (2009): Digital Media ethics. Polity Hutchins, B. and Rowe, D. (2012): Sport beyond Television: The Internet, Digital Media and the Rise of Networked Media Sport. Routledge Laudon, C. K. and Traver, G. C. (2010): E-commerce. Prentice Hall Marsden, P. and Chaney, P. (2012): The Social Commerce Handbook: 20 Secrets for Turning Social Media into Social Sales. McGraw Hill Professional O’Gorman, M. (2006): E-Crit:Digital Media, Critical Theory, and the Humanities. University of Toronto Press Packard, A. (2012). Digital Media Law: Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. Rayburn, D. and Hoch, M. (2012): The Business of Streaming and Digital Media. CRC Press Wikstrom, P. (2010). The Music Industry: Music in the Cloud. Polity Read More