This research analyses the evolution in the effectiveness of media messages and aims to optimize the use of ICTs in educational settings. The cultural impact of television and multimedia resources is increasing as they move to the Internet with ever greater quality. The integration of visual narrative techniques with multimedia playback capabilities of the Internet is creating an innovative model of knowledge transfer that contrasts with some traditional school approaches. So, the introduction of audiovisual elements and multimedia resources in the classroom seems to be more effective than other "traditional" methodologies. In order to assess and test this initial hypothesis, this research relies on empirical data from a survey conducted among more than 400 students from Spanish and Mexican schools. Besides considering the relation between the time spent watching multimedia resources and students' academic performance, this paper analyses the possible benefits of learning strategies that include multimedia and audiovisual elements. Above all, we suggest that teachers should use educative methodologies that trigger emotional responses, in the same way as entertainment and multimedia resources do.