One of those knew it was happening moments suddenly brought into clear focus by an amazingly clear image. From a great Wall St. Journal report Old Media In a New World a few months ago – Will let this Nielsen graph (which you may have seen) speak for itself – quite staggering decline.
From the article:
Never has the advertising industry — whose best-known product remains the 30-second TV commercial — faced such wide-ranging threats. Ad-skipping devices, including TiVo Inc.’s digital video recorder, continue to penetrate U.S. homes. The spread of portable electronic devices means the average couch potato can consume media on the go — without ads. New programming venues such as broadband entertainment online and video on demand will only make it more difficult to catch consumers with traditional ads. Meanwhile, marketers have become more demanding, asking for better proof that the billions of dollars they sink into advertising actually pay off.
If the commercial channels and ad distributors know this why oh why are they not moving quicker – they still have the powerbase to place their roots in new ground – or is that ground constantly on the move. We are in an earthquake, shifting sands zone methinks. But even with that uncertainty advertisers really need to understand more than ever now the advantages of good cross media campaigns. It is their only salvation – a bridging mechanism before totally new advertising models (more on that very soon!) emerge as the new broadband distribution channels mature.
Posted by Gary Hayes ©2005