The Dominant Advertising Media of the Future
Will the Mobile Phone Rule the Ad Media World?
Apr 8, 2009
There is so much debate about the relative value of mobile media, television, the internet and newspapers in 2009 that indecision regarding the best media may hinder the return of the ad industry even after the recession ends.
Much of the industry appears to be searching for a silver bullet, a new medium that will give it measurable maximum return. There are a sufficient number of companies and studies promising such technology to intimidate anyone who hesitates to at least explore new media.
The mobile phone is the latest entry in the race for media dominance and has certainly captured the imagination and attention of young people.
Motivated by Mobility
In a March 25, 2009 Pew Internet research report, John B. Horrigan says 39% of American adults are "motivated by mobility," meaning they rely heavily on cell phones and wireless laptops. Pew divided them into five groups with such high tech cultural names as Digital Collatorators 8% of total study group, Ambivalent Networkers 9%, Media Movers 7%, Roving Nodes 7% and Mobile Newbies 8%.
As their titles might indicate, the group commitments to mobile technology ranged from very high among the Digital Collaborators to marginal among the Mobile Newbies.
The study was conducted in 2007 and the numbers may have shifted a bit since then.
Pew Found 61% Unexcited by Mobile Media
As impressive as the 39% group was, the Pew study found 61% of the telephone respondents unexcited about mobile media. That includes 34% (the Information Encumbered, the Tech Indifferent and the Off the Network groups) who are unlikely to embrace mobile technology in the future.
Even the Internet experienced Desktop Veterans (13%) and Drifting Surfers (14%), who use personal computers to surf the Web, show little interest in using their cell phones for anything other than voice communications. They do, however, bring the total number of Internet users to 58%.
That does tell advertisers that the Internet is a good bet for the future, even if they have to assume the users are getting there either through their cell phones, laptops or PCs.
But despite all the attention being paid to the Internet, there are still other viable ad media that have good chances of surviving.
Newspapers Exploring Internet Options
Newspapers are exploring ways to find advertising revenue through the Internet, even if they have to consider some new legal protections for their content.
Television remains the media with the most advertising emotional appeal and greatest opportunities for creativity, two factors that are likely to attract most advertisers. Cable TV is also on the verge of offering at least a bit of audience segmentation.
Direct mail already offers advertisers the measuring techniques they are counting on the Internet, cell phones, laptops and personal computers to provide. A major question will be how those media perform compared to the one and two percent return realized through direct mail advertising.
New Media Give Advertisers More ChoicesAmerican advertising owes its beginnings to newspapers, which have over the years been challenged by radio, billboards, direct mail, television and the Internet. Each new medium has given advertisers a new tool for delivering their messages. Each has also found a niche in what has become the common practice, using a media mix to reach different audiences with different messages at different prices.
With the growing complexity of the American marketplace, and with more media offering more options, can any one medium replace multimedia?
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