Funding and Management in the Media Convergence Era: Introduction

ABSTRACT Media convergence has been mapped from a variety of perspectives, with scholars tracing the impact of digital convergence, for example, on everything from texts to consumption. Yet, few have examined how the rise of a convergent media landscape is impacting funding in and across contemporary media industries. It is important to examine such a relationship, and to assess ways in which convergent characteristics of connectivity, hybridity and networked society have informed approaches to funding across media sectors. This introductory article to this special issue “Funding and Management in the Media Convergence Era” briefly outlines the approaches of the five authors. Individually, each article examines innovations in funding across a variety of different media sectors and platforms, looking across contemporary children’s television, public service broadcasting, crowdfunded news and journalism, film production in Greece, and Japanese animation. Altogether, the articles in this special issue explore the broader implications of a contemporary media culture that is more sharable, hybridized, and connected on traditional funding models.