Academic Journal of Science and Technology ISSN: 2771-3032 | Vol. 5, No. 3, 2023 76 Traditional TV Media + Live Streaming: A New Media Marketing Approach of Traditional TV Media in the 5G and Live Streaming Era Zhen Li Wenzhou Polytechnic, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China Abstract: In the new media era, a host of new media are emerging, which are profoundly changing the landscape of media communication. Correspondingly, traditional TV media are encountering formidable challenges in the era of 5G and live streaming, which has led to audience loss and a decline in market share. With this in mind, the present article develops a new marketing approach of "Live Streaming + Traditional TV Media" to help traditional media to deal with various challenges and utilize their advantages in the new era. The article also offers recommendations for implementing this novel marketing approach. Keywords: Traditional TV Media, Live Streaming, New Media. 1. Introduction In the new media era, a host of new media are emerging, which are profoundly changing the landscape of media communication. New media are more interactive, flexible, and rich in content than traditional media. Meanwhile, they allow for the free creation, exchange, and dissemination of content, and hence users are no longer passive information receivers (Carr & Hayes, 2015; Dolan et al., 2017). In addition, new media have transformed the traditional media communication paradigm from one-way to two-way or multi- way communication (Shawky et al., 2019). The rise of new media, especially the rise of video social media, has seriously threatened the development and survival of traditional TV media. It is, therefore, necessary for traditional TV media to embrace new technologies, e.g., live streaming and 5G, to diversify content creation, enhance user experience, and implement new marketing approaches. Against this backdrop, this article aims to explore a new media marketing approach for traditional TV media and proposes the integration of traditional media with live streaming, i.e., “Traditional TV Media + Live Streaming”. This article first discusses the challenges encountered by traditional TV media and then analyses traditional TV media's advantages. Based on this, the article develops the new marketing approach of “Traditional TV Media + Live Streaming” and proposes recommendations for implementing this integrative marketing approach. 2. Challenges Encountered by Traditional TV Media In recent years, both the revenue and market share of traditional media are declining globally. The revenue of traditional TV media worldwide shrunk from $41.6 billion in 2017 to $38.5 billion in 2022 (Statista, 2023a). In the U.S., people's average time spent with traditional media per day reduced from 453 minutes in 2011 to 297 minutes in 2022 whereas the time spent on digital media increased from 214 minutes in 2022 (Statista, 2023b). The decline of traditional TV media is largely attributed to the rise of new media. Media consumption has a crowding-out effect, i.e., the more time users spend on new media, the less time they spend on traditional media. Meanwhile, media consumption is sticky in that once users become accustomed to a particular medium, their media choices remain stable over time (Wang, 2021). The Use & Gratification (U&G) theory (Katz et al., 1973) offers explanations for users' preferences for new media over traditional TV media. This theory suggests that users' media choices are driven by their needs. In a media consumption context, users have diverse needs, e.g., enjoyment, leisure, access to information, interaction, performance improvement, and social networking. They actively seek out media that meet their needs (Smock et al., 2011). This process of use and gratification creates value for users and subsequently users are likely to be committed to the media they choose (Whiting & Williams, 2013). The rise of new media is largely due to the fact that they successfully gratify users' social needs, such as interacting, communicating, expressing oneself, building social networks, improving social image, gaining a sense of belonging, obtaining positive evaluations from others, and expanding one's influence (Whiting & Williams, 2013). In addition to social needs, traditional TV media are at a disadvantage compared to new media in terms of meeting personal needs. Compared to traditional media, new media presents a greater amount of content, is more diverse and personalised, and the quality of content is constantly improving. Big data technology allows media content to actively find users who are interested (Vassallo, 2017). In addition, the content presented on traditional TV media partially overlaps with new media. For example, users can view a wide range of news, shows, and series on new media platforms. Overall, new media are better able to meet the diverse and individual needs of users than traditional TV media, thus building and accumulating an advantage over the competition. 3. Advantages of Traditional TV Media Although traditional TV media are at a disadvantage compared to new media in meeting user needs, the advantages of traditional TV media are undeniable. Firstly, the credibility of traditional TV media is higher than that of new media. According to ELM (Petty et al., 1986), users with low involvement tend to judge information credibility based on source credibility. Information credibility further determines 77 their evaluation of the information and information adoption. Traditional TV media are considered to be more credible information sources than new media due to their long history, accumulated credibility, rigorous content vetting process, and organisational endorsement (Cho et al., 2015). Secondly, the quality of content in traditional TV media is higher than in most new media because traditional TV media companies have professional content editors, actors, directors, and film and TV production staff. Traditional TV media are often subject to strict content review and quality control procedures. This quality advantage allows traditional TV media to better meet the needs of their users. Thirdly, traditional TV media have more resources and abilities, e.g., capital, technology, organisational structure, social connections, visibility, political affiliations, specialist equipment, and a proven content creation process. Therefore, traditional TV media should make full use of their strengths and embrace the opportunities brought by technological and social changes in order to fuel future development. 4. Live Streaming Marketing + Traditional TV Media Based on the above analysis of traditional TV media’s advantages and challenges they have encountered, this article proposes "Live Streaming + Traditional TV Media", which is an innovative and promising marketing approach that integrates traditional TV media with live streaming. The feasibility of this marketing approach is reflected in three aspects. Firstly, media convergence has become a major trend in media development. A growing number of traditional media have embraced new media technologies and the Internet. This media convergence has proven to be a new direction for traditional media’s future developmental direction (Jensen, 2022). As an example, many traditional media organizations have set up social media pages and are updating their content on social media simultaneously. Secondly, traditional media need to interact with users and build social connections to meet their social needs. One-way media communication is increasingly lagging behind social and technological developments, as new media technologies have made two-way and multi-way communication possible and one-way communication has become increasingly inadequate to meet the needs of users (Shawky et al., 2019). Thirdly, new media technologies and functions, e.g., online live streaming, live interaction, big data, personalised push, integration of e-commerce and live streaming, 5G, and deep integration of e-commerce with logistics systems, strongly facilitate content creation, improve communication efficiency, and provide excellent user experience (Bucher & Helmond, 2018). Therefore, traditional TV media cannot afford to miss the opportunities brought by these technological and functional innovations. Based on the above analysis, this article proposes a new marketing approach of "Live Streaming Marketing + Traditional TV Media". Live streaming video is now almost the most popular mode of interaction with the media. This model will allow traditional TV media to revolutionise their content creation, distribution models, and user experience. This marketing approach will leverage the strengths of traditional TV media and help them to meet the challenges of the new media era. 5. Recommendations for the New Media Marketing Approach This article proposes the following recommendations for implementing the new marketing approach of "Live Streaming + Traditional TV Media". Firstly, traditional TV channels can use live streaming to distribute content and interact with audiences. These channels should actively embrace innovation in technology and communication models, allowing TV audiences to comment in real-time. Meanwhile, hosts should read and respond to audiences' comments. They could also consider connecting with audiences and interacting with them in real-time. In addition, traditional TV media should allow for interaction between audiences. In this way, TV audiences can interact not only with the channel but also with other audiences, which provides a good interactive and social experience. Secondly, according to the U&G theory, the key to “Live Streaming + Traditional TV Media” is to understand and meet the user needs. To this end, traditional TV media should shift their communication paradigms and embrace a user-centred paradigm. The focus of this paradigm is that the creation of media content is centred on gratifying audiences’ needs and in turn creating value and excellent experience for audiences (Jensen, 2022). Traditional media-centric communication paradigms have become increasingly unsuited to the current social and media environment, as audience needs and preferences change dramatically while media competition becomes increasingly fierce (Schrøder, 2015). For this reason, traditional TV media needs to actively understand the various emotional, social, functional, informational, and hedonic needs of their audience in its communication with them. The purpose of understanding these needs is to create content that is more responsive to audiences' needs. Thirdly, traditional TV media can create commercial value through live streaming. This means that live streaming can be combined with advertising as well as e-commerce. In live streaming, TV media can provide some purchase advice and product/brand information based on the audiences' consumption needs. Meanwhile, TV media can invite sellers as well as experienced consumers to interact with audiences in real-time. In this way, traditional media can provide audiences with valuable information and help them make better purchasing decisions. Finally, traditional TV media should focus on building and improving relationships with audiences through live interaction. Previous research has shown that the quality of a user's relationship with a media platform determines user stickiness and loyalty (Hudson et al., 2015; Zhang & Luo, 2016). By building a para-social relationship with users, TV media can retain them and improve their social and interactive experience. 6. Conclusions Overall, traditional TV media are encountering formidable challenges in the era of 5G and live streaming, which has led to audience loss and a decline in market share. However, traditional TV media still have their advantages and can revolutionise their marketing approaches by embracing technological and social changes. 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