LO1 Task 4: Cross media product case study

The Simpsons has been a huge success for 21st century fox over the past twenty eight years and continues to thrive to this day, this brand is an exemplary case on how cross media promotion can lead to appealing to a mass audience. Subsidiaries of 21st  Century Fox such as sky have for years been promoting the programme in different ways, one of the most prominent being large decals for The Simpsons being printed onto the side of sky engineering vans - This helps us the audience associate the brand with sky and in turn the original conglomerate company . Since starting the original programme in 1989, The Simpsons has grown to become one of the world most popular family compatible programmes on the market, with some episodes raking in over 28 million views, it only seemed right to divert over time to the cinematic pathway. Because of 21st Century Fox's ability to be  horizontally and vertically integrated:  creating, marketing and distributing a film was much easier than maybe anticipated  and as expected was a big hit at the box office what with over 500 million USD made from their 75 million USD budget.

The Simpsons franchise itself is aimed at families, the screenplay shows a form of dysfunctional American family life which has proven to resonate with families not only in America, but all over the world. The characters in the programme are intended to be the same age as those watching, so ideally children aged 8 or over, the creators of the episodes and indeed films/other content have made it so that it appeals to everybody watching in terms of humour.  The uses and gratifications of this product are simply to provide some form of temporary escapism for those watching and in a sense of reassurance that not every family is perfect - this particularly helps the older range of the target audience who are likely to have children the same age as 'Bart', 'Lisa' and ‘Maggie’ as it gives the ability to see what life could be like alternatively. The Simpsons appeals to this mass target audience quite easily due to the format it is shown in and the intertextuality which is used throughout – the cartoon animation look in a way distracts children from the more developed inferences that are intentionally for the more mature audience. In recent episodes, a more political stance has been taken on some episodes which comment on the current presidential situation in America. This is an example of how the show appeals to the older family members whilst still maintaining its original family friendly format.

The interesting thing about The Simpsons Movie is that it was certificated a 15 which is far from the PG rating the regular prime time show was awarded - this shows how the Simpsons have restricted their audience by including sexual innuendos , violence and strong language making it more than just the cartoon show we all are familiar with - this was done to have the reverse effect and as a result has made the target audience larger as those who already watch the show would be able to understand and appreciate the subtle changes that made it into the 15 certificate , however it is likely that those under 15 will have watched the movie having grown up with and appreciated the prime time show.

During the year that The Simpsons Movie was released, a new game ‘The Simpsons Game’ was brought out which somewhat supplement the events shown in cinema, this in turn became a massive hit with console owners with sales spanning across a variety of countries around the world. At current the game retails at around £40 proving that there is still a market for the product 10 years later. When the film was first advertised, it was done so alongside other films of the same age rating in cinemas, 21^st century fox produced a variety of different films around the time of The Simpsons Movie release and therefore was frequently showing the trailer before the showings.

Technological convergence has made it all the more easier for us as audiences to access media products, and The Simpsons is no exception- We are able to stream full episodes of The Simpsons from the Fox (subsidiary of 21^st Century Fox) website which allows users to access it any time anywhere whereas when the first episodes were aired, it was only a possibility to watch when broadcasted. This fits in with the hectic lives of people in the 21^st century and shows how the brand has adapted to consumer needs, those who have grown up with the programme and still watch it to date are highly likely to have jobs which prevent them from watching Tv as it is broadcasted. The Simpsons although available in the UK on Channel 4 is more readily available on channels which have to be paid for by subscription from sky, this gives us an indication of the social grading of the consumers of the programme and their spending power as some of the packages which include Fox and MTV (which also shows the programme), come at a high price. The Simpsons Movie itself can be streamed from Netflix , which much like Fox allows users to watch the film any time anywhere – Web 2.0 has made this a possibility as we as consumers are now able to use interactive interfaces which allow us to perform operations such as streaming at a minimal cost.

Over the past ten years ecommerce has become a big part of day to day life of people all over the globe, and again as part of this we are able to access more and more media products at the click of a button. Today, Amazon (unrelated to the conglomerate 21^st Century Fox) gives the opportunity to its users to buy or rent The Simpsons Movie which can be stored on Amazon Video as well as the ability to order other related merchandise. This is further proof of how effective 21^st century fox has worked as a conglomerate company as they earn commission from every sale of their media products whilst also being paid for the right to resell the product under the Fox Home Entertainment name.

In conclusion, it has been made very clear through the success of the brand how well 21^st century fox has marketed and distributed the products and its capacity to be horizontally and vertically integrated. The popularity of The Simpsons franchise comes down solely to the means in which it has been adapted to the needs of the audience, and how this has followed the consumers as they change their uses for media products. Their ability to work cross media has meant that consumers are constantly exposed to the brand which has ultimately transferred into viewing figures hence the demand from 1989 to present day.