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Wikipedia defines New Media as technology enabled media with audience interactivity

More specifically, at the time of this article, Wikipedia defined New Media as “a term that describes media which can only be viewed or used with the aid of computer processing power. Is often said to be a form of media that includes some aspect of interactivity for its audience.” I don’t disagree with this analysis, but I think we need to extend our understanding of this concept.

The “Long Tail” effect is happening to media

“Our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of ‘hits,’ at the head of the demand curve,” explains Chris Anderson, “toward a huge number of niches in the tail.” Chris’ focus is mainly on retailers, but I think this concept is much more applicable to the New Media world. Using the Long Tail concept, we can understand that New Media is shifting content to niche audiences. As technology and distribution become cheaper, the cost of content delivery goes down. Anyone can create content, distribute it cheaply and reach an audience. Consumers will have greater choice and accordingly choose the content that best matches their tastes. The chart below summarizes these thoughts:

New Media is a trend that involves rapidly increasing media segments

As media increasingly uses technology, the divide between Traditional Media and New Media will continue to shrink.  In order to use New Media as an applicable term, we have to think of its impact on the media industry in whole.  Defining New Media as a trend in which we see increasing segmentation in the market solves this problem.  New Media represents a shift in thinking where content creaters must learn to deal with increasingly targeted competition.  New Media isn’t just a market segment, it represents the key growth area for any media company.