crossmediality

Crossmediality is the practice of telling a narrative or delivering content across multiple media platforms in a coordinated way. It involves distributing or expanding material through film, television, comics, video games, websites, social media, podcasts, and live experiences. The aim is to create an integrated experience where each medium offers distinct affordances and adds value to the overall message or story.

There are different framings. Some scholars distinguish crossmediality from transmedia storytelling: crossmediality describes content that travels across several media channels, with each platform adding material that enriches the whole. Transmedia storytelling, by contrast, tends to imply that the narrative is distributed across media in such a way that fully understanding the story requires engaging with multiple platforms, with each medium contributing uniquely.

Benefits include increased audience reach, extended shelf-life, and opportunities for experimentation with form and interactivity. It can deepen immersion, enable fan participation, and create cross-promotional synergy. Challenges include coordinating rights and production across partners, ensuring consistency of world-building and branding, and managing audience measurement across platforms. Fragmentation and higher costs can also arise, as can platform-specific constraints and gatekeeping.

Examples include large fictional universes such as Star Wars and The Witcher, which expand across films, TV series, books, comics, video games, and digital content; more narrowly focused projects may also employ crossmedial strategies, linking a game release to a companion app, a web series, or serialized content on social media.