The days of mass media are over
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.
