Are mass media dinosaurs, or rock-solid incumbents that will still rule the roost for decades to come? I was asked to write the “Yes” case to a debate featured in the December issue of Marketing magazine on “Are the days of mass media over?” Below is my case – remember that as a debater you have to take an extreme view! Unfortunately I can’t republish the “No” case, written by John Sintras, COO of Starcom Worldwide, however you can probably imagine what a large media buyer would say on the topic…

Are the days of mass media over? YES!

The days of mass media are numbered. We are rapidly shifting into a world of highly targetted media, distributed over a multiplicity of new channels. The bastions of mass media as we know them – free-to-air television, AM and FM radio, and newspapers – will still exist, but not in the forms we currently know them. In order to adapt to the winds of change, they will have to shift so they are no longer true “mass” media.

The first nail in the coffin of mass media as we know it is the proliferation of new distribution channels. In particular Internet Protocol, or IP, provides an almost infinitely flexible platform for distribution of content in any form. As consumers get wide bandwidth Internet access both to their computers, TV, and game consoles in their homes, and to their mobile devices wherever they choose to roam, they will be able to tap into any content they wish.

Legislation in almost every country in the world currently provides strict limitations on how TV and radio electromagnetic spectrum can be used. That archaic legislation can be transcended simply by distributing content over IP, a domain which legislation will never be able to fully control. We can already access news, radio, video, or anything else we want, from anywhere on the planet.

Telecoms firms are eager to provide great media content to their mobile phone customers. While the screens of mobiles are too small for viewing most video, these will be swiftly supplanted by new technologies. Video glasses provide quality video viewing anywhere, anytime, even while you’re walking or doing other activities. I virtually never watch TV, but I frequently watch programs on my video glasses. E-paper allows us to unfold or unroll large screens that can be kept in our pockets. We can read news or watch entertainment as and when we please.

The real death-knell for mass media as we know it is advertisers’ desire for targetted advertising with measurable outcomes. Broadcast is an extremely apposite moniker – it throws its net widely, and catches many unappetising and worthless fish for every one that is potentially of value. Moreover, you have no idea what you have caught or even whether you have caught anything. For advertisers, this is extremely wasteful. New media distribution technologies allow advertisements to be shown only to those who are likely to be interested, and then allows immediate interaction. A conversation and a relationship is created. Mass media affords no true relationship with the audience. The rapidly eroding value of sending undifferentiated message to millions means that mass media will rapidly fragment, and the majority of content will be distributed through direct, immediate, targetted, interactive channels.

“Add this to the endangered species: blank spaces,” opens an article in today’s New York Times on pervasive advertising. Some of the innovative ways it mentions in how advertising is filling the blank spaces in our environment include:

* Eggs in supermarkets are being stamped with CBS TV show titles

* US Airways airsick bags and seatback trays

* Chinese food cartons promoting Continental Airways

* Examining table covers in doctor’s surgeries

* Video screens in taxis

* Turnstile gates

* Interactive floor displays that respond to people walking on them

* Toyota and Unilever projecting ads on building sides

* Dry cleaning bags

Absolutely. This is how we described Media is Everywhere, one of the five ideas transforming media that we included in our Future of Media Report 2006:

In the future everything from walls and table-tops to cereal packets and clothes will be screens and video will be everywhere. E-paper will add video and audio functionality to the formerly static pages of newspapers, and books will play commercials for the author’s latest novel. If the advertisers have their way, there will be no respite outside your front door.

Implications: Consumers may respond aggressively to the commercial invasion of public and private spaces. Devices such as TV-B-Gone will be used to shut off or shut out clutter.

Opportunities: Getting messages closer to consumers. For example, since 70-80% of purchasing decisions are made in-store, ads will be in shops and malls rather than on TV at home. Producers of quality video content will reap a bonanza.

Of course there will be pushback from consumers and local government. But within whatever boundaries are created, there will be more experimentation, especially in micro-spaces, which will gradually be filled with moving images. And in time we will grow to accept media and advertising being literally almost anywhere we turn our attention.

Journalists love stories about the latest jobs to get sent offshore. Sharp political debates are launched, fears ignited, and community discussion engaged. However today the story is also about journalists themselves. As described in a recent article in the International Herald Tribune, journalist jobs are increasingly being sent offshore. In the first instance, “back office” roles such as graphic design, photo editing, proofreading, ad production, and layout are now commonly going outside newspapers’ walls, sometimes locally, and often to India or other low-cost centers. However now, journalist positions too are going overseas. Reuters’ Bangalore office now employs some 1,600 people, including 100 journalists covering US stories. The UK’s Daily Express has outsourced its city business section, in the end going to a local association, though it also considered Indian options. Other newspapers are experimenting with using offshore reporters in a variety of guises.

The outsourcing of journalism is of course hardly new, with stringers and freelance contributors providing content since the birth of print media. Only a handful of publications globally have the scale to employ journalists in all major countries and across all news segments. One of the key differences today lies in the intensified cost pressures on media, driven by the loss of classified and advertising revenue. Already an increasing proportion of newspaper content comes from newswires and other external sources. Connectivity makes it easier to distribute processes such as photo editing, sub-editing, and layout across locations and timezones. The latest shift is to having local stories written by people in distant locations. Hard business stories can often be written by non-locals. Communications costs for doing interviews are negligible, while labor costs can be slashed. All of these trends are mirrored across other industries, where lower level functions are getting outsourced, and those remaining must demonstrate that they create unique value. A newspaper will always need editorial staff, and regular writers who can attract recognition and an audience from readers. Many other functions currently done in the newsroom will find homes outside the organization. Some will go too far, and jeopardize their editorial quality (beyond that from the steady reduction in headcount over the last years). Yet, like it or not, the process of gathering, analyzing, commenting, and editing news will increasingly be distributed beyond the traditional media organization.