Media Convergence and the Super Bowl

One topic that came up a few times in Windows and Mirrors and on this blog as well is that of media convergence. And while I'm not sure what made me think of it in the first place, I thought it was interesting to see how the various forms of media will converge Sunday night for the Super Bowl, quite possibly the biggest media event of the year. It is one of the few events that can very easily reach every possible medium. The game will be broadcast over television and radio. Satellite radio will surely pick it up as well. Although I'm not sure if the game will be broadcast live over the internet (at least legally), many websites such as nfl.com, espn.com, and the like will have live gamecasts. People will receive updates on their cell phones (not me - I only receive alerts from the Buffalo Bills, who once again are not playing) and some people may even get highlights as well. Clips from the game will be rebroadcast on the internet, sports networks, and clip shows for years to come. The game itself will be available on DVD and parts of it will be available in the yearly Sports Illustrated give-away for new subscribers. We will see commercials featuring the game's MVP saying that he'll be going to Disney World. The commercials themselves will be available online within hours after the game. There will surely be text polls for fans throughout the course of the game, and perhaps online ones as well (although these are by no means as lucrative for the networks). The Who will perform at halftime, bringing the music industry into the picture as well. And of course the game will be covered the next day in all the papers in America, in addition to all the buildup that has been featured in sports pages over the past two weeks. Magazines and books will soon follow as well. Madden 11 will surely feature some sort of reference to the game as well (for example this year's game features two players from the game last year).

These are just examples I could think of off the top of my head - surely there will be many more that I've missed and perhaps even ones we may not have even thought of. But it's definitely interesting how the biggest sports event in America leaves no medium untouched and also combines several of them. There are plenty of other events that span the media spectrum (award shows and elections come to mind), but to me it seems like the biggest night in sports trumps them all.