Transmedia consumption experiences: consuming and co-creating interrelated stories across media

Marketers and consumers alike are experiencing immense changes in the way entertainment is conceived, consumed, produced, distributed, and marketed as a result of intensifying socio-cultural, technologic, and economic convergence (Jenkins 2006, Dena 2004). Transmedia storytelling, aesthetic and product of this convergence culture, is the systematic dispersal of narrative elements across multitude of media for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated consumer experience (Jenkins 2006). To respond to the increasingly cluttered mediascape, producers of entertainment and non-entertainment brands are under pressure to develop engaging experiences for consumers and also to manage brand stories that integrate various media platforms. Transmedia storytelling becomes a relevant and lucrative solution that helps producers achieve these ends. Adapting and extending on the idea of transmedia storytelling and grounding transmedia to the consumer behavior and marketing fields, this dissertation seeks to develop transmedia consumption (TMC) –– transmedia logic –– that focuses on the consumer practices and processes around transmedia narratives. This dissertation is guided by the following research questions: What constitutes transmedia consumption experiences and practices? How do consumers consume and co-create these consumption experiences? The findings detail the key practices, boundaries, and important processes of TMC. The findings maintain that TMC experiences entail broader and diverse consumption and co-creation practices than the mere consumption of media texts. Building on the works of DeCertau (1984) and Jenkins (1992) on nomadic behavior of fans, this dissertation identifies migration –– consumers' navigation behavior across media platforms –– as one of the salient processes of TMC and explores patterns, motivators, and barriers of transmedial migration. The findings of this study have implications for marketing scholars and practitioners about creating and managing unified and coordinated brand narrative experiences across multiple traditional and social media.