Characteristics of Advertisements

These are some of the main characteristics of advertising:

1.       Paid form of communication

Advertising is a paid form of communication. An advertiser or sponsor pays mass media like TV, the Internet, Radio, Newspapers, Magazines, Hoarding, etc. for successful communication of an advertisement. Advertiser fully controls such a paid communication.

2.      Non-personal communication

Advertising is a non-personal communication of information. It doesn’t focus only an individual in the society. It targets all potential customers or the mass audience at once. Advertising overcomes the limitations of selling product though person to person communication. It is an effective non-personal sales tool.

3.      Creative process

Advertising is a creative process that involves imagination and innovative ideas for bringing out original ideas. Creative ideas can attract the customers. If such ideas are effectively utilized for a promotional purpose, it can persuade the potential buyers to purchase products. Thus, it helps in achieving the desired goal of an advertiser.

4.      Marketing tool

Advertising is presentation and promotion of ideas, products, services, events, etc. in the market. So it is an effective marketing tool.

5.      Identified Sponsor

In advertising, a sponsor or advertiser gets easily identified. An advertisement mentions the brand names and trademarks of goods and services. It also includes the name, contact details and related information of a sponsoring entity, which give additional information about its source.

Read More

What are the characteristics of New Media?

Internet is a worldwide system of computers interconnected to each other. A person on any part of the globe can interact with any other person through internet. The basic feature of internet is its ability to share information and enable interaction. An internet user can share information, ideas and feelings through internet and receive a feedback.

1. Interactivity

Interactivity is a prominent feature of new media which allows a two way flow of communication between the user and the computer or any other digital communication device. It allows the user to be-come an active partner in the communication process. There are various devices and software’s that utilize the possibilities of interactivity such as, smart phones, computer games, smart classes, etc. The basic feature of interactivity is feedback. It depends on the two way communication system and requires a response from the user for flawless functioning. Interactivity is classified into three types; navigational, functional and adaptive.

Navigational interactivity

Navigational interactivity as the name suggests helps to navigate through hyperlinks and search engines which connect web pages and websites.

Functional interactivity

It enables the interaction between the user and the digital device. It is commonly used by websites for receiving feedback from the users.

Adaptive Interactivity

It helps the user to edit and update the information in a digital media. Some websites uses this feature to enable the audience to involve in the updating of content.

2. Multimediality

It refers to the co-existence of different media in a single platform. Website is the best example of multimedia. Multimediality is used in various electronic devices such as computers, smart phones, etc. It combines all form of digital Mediums such as audio, video, text, images and graphics in a single format. Hypermedia is another form of multimedia where multimedia elements are combined with hypertext or hyperlink.

3. Hypertextuality

It is the feature that allows a user to navigate through web pages and websites using hypertext. A hypertext is a word or sentence on a web page that is attached with a hyperlink. A hypertext will be linked with a web page or website or even another portion of the same web page. Hyperlink can be applied to text content or multimedia content.

4. Universality

Internet is a world wide system of interconnected computers. A person who can access a computer or any other device which supports an internet connection, can access any information that is available on the internet.

5. Immediacy

It refers to the capacity of new media to deliver information immediately from any part of the world. Nowadays online news portals are faster than any other news media in delivering news.

Read More

Characteristics of Television Script

Television script is a simple and disciplined structure that helps in the production of a program. There are certain features that make it different from other media:

1.       Clarity

Format and story structure are precise and clear when it comes to television script writing. A half an hour story runs about 22 minutes; an hour show, about 45 minutes with commercials dispersed for the remaining time. The breaks must be in the right spot for the advertisers to put up their ads. They also need to be compel-ling enough to bring back the viewer to the program.

2.      Diverse

Television is like a factory. It survives on an endless stream of product. It is hard to create variety in the types of programs aired on television. Diversity in the shows is essential to keep the interest of the audience consistent.

3.      Disciplined

Every television format has got certain rules for writing script. A script is only good when it is organized and well structured. This makes it easier to understand and visualize a television script.

4.      Informative

A script that provides required information about the topic is more effective during the course of production.

5.      Correctness

The information and facts in a television news script should be accurate.

6.      Element of Drama

Drama is conflict. Without drama a television program will lose its charm. A television script writer should introduce some dramatic element in his script. There are three types of dramatic conflicts: person v/s inner self, person v/s person, person v/s nature.

7.      Conversational

Television script is for the purpose of reading. So it should be conversational in nature.

Read More

What are the characteristics of Television

The main character of television is its audiovisual nature. It is one of the important mass media devices. The characteristics of television are:

1.       Audiovisual medium

Television is a medium of moving images and sound. So it is called an audio visual medium. It is for both eye and ear. The audio and visual presentation creates more impact on the audience.

2.      Convergent media

Television combines the qualities of various media like radio and newspaper, i.e., audio, picture and information. It has the ability to converge the qualities of other media in a single platform. So it is a convergent medium.

3.      Universal medium

The television is a universal medium. Any person with a television set can watch programs on television. The ethnicity, race or color of the audience is not a factor here.

4.      Popular Medium

Literacy is not a barrier in watching television while newspaper reading requires literacy. Any illiterate can get information and entertainment from television. It is a popular medium that any type of people can use.

5.      Medium of Credibility

The television gives information in a visual form. The visuals can be more credible than the audio or print.

6.      Glamour medium

A person who gets coverage by television gets more popularity than in any other media. There is a prominent factor of glamour in television.

7.      Medium of close up

Television screen is smaller than a cinema screen. So landscape or long shots won’t look so attractive in a television screen. Medium or close up shots are more preferable for a television screen.

8.     Domestic medium / Living room medium

No one goes out to watch television. Most of the audience watches television at home. Television is a medium for domestic environment.

9.      Inspiring medium

Visuals can motivate or inspire a human being than sound or print. Television can create a new trend or style in the society.

10.  Medium of immediacy / Live medium

Television enables the audience to view the events anywhere in the world live while sitting in our drawing rooms. The video reports of a terrorist attack or natural disaster can reach the audience in seconds, through a television.

11.   Advertisers medium

Visual advertisements are more pleasing to the eyes. So advertisers give more preference for the television to broadcast their ads.

12.  Mass medium

The message delivered by television reaches a large number of homogenous audiences. Television is a major mass medium.

Read More

Characteristics of Radio

1.       Mobile medium

Radio is a mobile or portable medium. A person can have it at home, carry it to somewhere else, listen to it while driving, even can have it on land or sea. Radio is a convenient medium that can accompany the listener anywhere.

2.      Inexpensive medium

Radio sets are really cheap and easily available. Radio production costs much less compared to television production. A television production requires studio with camera and lighting facilities, expensive sets, costumes, artists, technicians and a number of production personnel. But radio only re-quires a sound recording and a radio announcer for production.

3.      Invisible medium

Radio depends on the sense of hearing. It is not supported by the medium of sight. The audience is not really bothered about the presence of a radio unlike a television.

4.      Medium of sound

Radio is an exclusive medium of sound. It is a medium of the ear. There are three major elements of a radio broadcast, spoken words, sound effects and music. All these sound elements should be expressive and pleasant for the listeners. It must be artistically combined to provoke the imagination of the listener.

5.      Medium of Voice

Radio is also a medium of voice. The radio announcer’s or performer’s voice is very important in broadcasting. The performer should use various modulations in the sound to produce effective communication.

6.      Intimate medium

The broadcaster must imagine the listeners sitting by their side. The listener should feel that the announcer is speaking within the radio set. The best subjects for broadcasting are those which intimately concern the listener, like personal and innermost feelings. The listeners receive radio broadcasts mostly in very informal situations. So the communication is informal and intimate.

7.      Simple language

Language used in a radio broadcast will be simple and easily understandable. The audience won’t get time to check the meaning of the words or think about the underlying information in a sentence.

8.     Medium of immediacy

Radio is a medium of immediacy. It can report events as they are happening. It can deliver news instantly. It can report an event faster than the newspapers that would take some time to reach the readers.

9.      Secondary medium

It is a unique feature of radio. A person can listen to the radio while performing other activities. One can listen to radio while cooking, driving, and eating, etc. so radio can be consumed while performing an activity.

Read More