·
List of
companies they own and in which mediums:
o
Film:
§
Warner Brothers
§
New Line Cinemas
§
HBO Pictures
o
TV:
§
Warner Brothers Animation
§
Looney Tunes
§
Warner Brothers Television
§
HBO
§
AOL
§
TimeWarner Cable
o
Music:
§
Warner Music (WMG)
o
Games:
Convergence is where different media platforms are owned by a
conglomerate, and can be put together, and this gives conglomerates a big
advantage over smaller companies. This is because they will have no competition
from any other company, and they will gain a much larger amount of money, as
the money will come from each different media platforms, and will all go to the
conglomerate, as it has ownership over each platform. A good example of this is
Time Warner, who owns some of the main media platforms, and they own subsidiary
companies such as New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Animation, and DC
Entertainment. Films can be made out of different platforms such as superhero
magazines from DC/Marvel. They can do this by cross promoting, and make films
such as The Dark Knight, Avengers Assemble, and so on. There will be very strong
consumer awareness, and the consumers will be loyal and confident in buying the
product, linking to the quality of the product assumed to be high in the
consumer’s opinion. As mentioned before, cross promotion opportunities across
mediums, known as synergy, are very high. If one business area is in decline,
another will be in acceleration, whereas if a company only consists of a film
business, which is in decline, it will be very hard to recover the situation,
without another business there to help. However, there are some disadvantages,
as the consumer has less choice to choose from. The business will require high
quality business and financial management, so the company must employ
trustworthy businessmen to keep the company on course. Smaller, independent
companies will lose out, as they cannot compete with the immense
diversification of much larger conglomerate.
There will be a lack of clear brand identity due to the business spread,
which is convergence, and this may confuse the consumer, thus affecting sale of
the product.
