It’s quite obvious that TV had experienced some of the highest declines in its history. Teenage viewership has gradually evaporated due more interactive and more engaging online environment. Apart from that, TV was immensely clustered into niche audiences, such as: Fish network, Fight Network, Golf Channel, Movie Network, Home & Garden TV, etc..
In order to keep viewers, network broadcasters were forced to expand their offerings, since prime time wasn’t enough to keep good viewer base for advertising dollars. The result is 100+ cable channels of all stripes and colours.
With this variety advertisements must’ve gotten more effective? After all, viewers are somewhat targeted by their interest.
Not exactly. With variety comes choice and that choice is extensively used during commercial breaks. Instead of watching advertisements, people simply change the channel until commercial break is over.
It is correct to say that not everyone changes the channel, but those who stick usually tune out of the TV, multitask, talk to friend or do some other activities. What do you do during commercials? As a result, advertisers do not get the return on investment they used to for their dollars. For you as a decision maker, it may be even out of reach, however, you will see that this method has found a formidable, more effective rival.
This continues well into other mediums, such as Radio, Newspapers and Magazines.
Radio uses interruption advertising, similar to that of TV. The impact is quite similar to television. People simply tune out to a different station or do not pay attention. It is also important to note that radio is primarily listened in cars.
But this advertising channel also lost its effectiveness. Majority of modern cars have CD players, which erode audience even more. Why listen to commercials when you can listen to your favourite artist? Why be interrupted by another offer?
As a result, dollars spent advertising on radio and TV are somewhat talking to deaf ears.
Though prices vary greatly between TV and Radio their effects are loosing ground due to the overwhelming number of commercial messages. People have got accustomed to advertisements and do not pay attention to them anymore. They know perfectly that commercial breaks are all about selling them something, regardless of packaging.
We should also mention the print media such as newspapers and magazines. Here we see a different pattern. Continue reading