Cross-Platform... What is it?

I've just completed a cross-platform unit for my degree and thought I might pass on some information to those of you who are unfamiliar with the term. Cross-platform covers four basic areas of media: online, text, audio and video. By combining these four things in any arrangement, you can make a series/project/game that spans multiple platforms and therefore inspires interactivity or action from the audience. For example, a TV show might have a series on television, a website with extra clips or webisodes, and maybe it also has some playing cards you can collect by buying a related magazine. By targeting your audience through a variety of mediums, you can keep their attention on your topic and provide them with ways to interact with the subject that would not have been possible even twenty years ago.

Cross-platform is quickly emerging as a media force to be reckoned with. TV shows are increasingly introducing related websites, children can play games with their favourite characters from the TV online, and audio, video and text are being used to make topics more user-friendly and widely available.

I worked with a great group of people: two producers, two directors, an editor, another screenwriter, and a radio producer all on Masters courses. We put our heads together and created an interactive website for children between the ages of 5-7. It incorporated those four things I listed above - audio, video, online and text. We did some market research and thought about merchandise and marketing, we built a mock-up of our website, and we presented to a panel of professors and a visiting media professional who has worked with BBC Raw and Cbeebies. The feedback we received was very positive and personally I had a lot of fun considering all the options available to us once we stepped out of the boundaries of single-platform media.

Cross-platform is not only about being different and thinking outside the media box, it's also about making your project accessible and helping your ideas adapt to a changing market and advancing technology. In fact, it's not just the technology that's advancing - it's your audience, too. These days, children begin surfing the internet (usually supervised) at about 5 years old! It's information like this that cross-platform media takes advantage of.

Think about a project you're currently working on. Could it be expanded to include another kind of media? While I don't believe cross-platform media will take over single platform media anytime soon, keeping up with the advancements in entertainment and technology is never a bad thing!