Strike's End Marks Fresh Start for Forever-Changed TV Market
http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=124970
Since the writer's strike began in November, my relationship with television has strongly weakened. I no longer wait anxiously for Monday nights and the latest episode of October Road nor do I drop anything and everything to catch Grey's Anatomy's most recent development. My television habits in general have strongly decreased. I have been relying on my DVD player and laptop - not to mention good, old-fashioned social interaction. It's easy to understand the impact of the strike on my media habits, however, I never thought into the huge change it has brought to advertisers. The Steinberg articles mentions three major predictions: more reality TV, fewer programs, and a staggered series of show launches...all in which create the need for marketers to readjust their advertising.
If you take a look at the reality shows currently on air, they all consist of a limited range of plot elements. Whether it's a physical challenge or the search for love, reality shows are lacking in diversity. There isn't anything that makes us want to watch one over the other - which often leads us to not watch at all. I am much more likely to turn off the television and find something else to do rather than watch the absurdity that is Flavor of Love.
With the rising cost of TV production, networks are going to strongly reevaluate the performance of shows. They will be in no hurry to put every show back on air which inevitably leads to less programs and the loss of certain audiences.
In the past, new seasons kick off in the fall but with the huge chunk of the season taken out by the strike, show ends and launches are going to be staggered. The majority of the audiences are going to be loyal watchers, rather than the many of us who know to jump on the bandwagon in the beginning of September to catch the newest season of popular series.
The moral of the story is that the writers strike is strengthening the fact that advertisers need to stray away from the basic television commercial. Television viewership is progressively declining and the strike is only speeding things up. I believe their best bet is to jump on board with network websites. I have been catching up on a lot of television via ABC.com. The mini commercials that happen throughout the streaming episodes are definitely getting a lot of bang for their buck. There is no fast forwarding and only a 30 second time frame, making there no opportunity to leave.
The writers strike is proof that marketers need to stray away from the inconsistency of television. The future of advertising needs to be interactive and the best way for that happen is via the internet.
posted by Lauren @ 8:15 PM
5 Comments
5 Comments:
While the writers strike has created a sharp decrease in tv viewing right now, i think it may be quite a jump to assume that the ratings won't recover. For a time, perhaps companies should be wary of putting too much money into television advertising, but i think in the long-run they would be in trouble if they tried to avoid the vehicle all together. The fact is, television advertising has a unique impact on consumers, and replacing it with the 30 second spots on broadcast companies' websites would be a bad replacement for two reasons. First of all, there are a limited number of shows for them to "sponsor." Second, If more companies begin to follow this tactic, that would end their "bang for the buck"
At this point, there is no medium that has the advertising impact of television. The aftermath of the strike will continue to haunt most parties involved for years to come. With the absence of the already dwindling supply of "must-see" program slots, viewers were forced to adapt to a world bereft of quality programming on the regular. In turn, it is a long shot to believe that ratings can ever return to their pre-strike numbers. With shows being made availible on-demand and online, it is inevitable that the future of advertising needs to be catered to the 'net.
Meanwhile, advertisers better milk every last drop out of those American Idol spots.
Reality,Schmeality: Boatloads of people watch that awful show.
Speaking of the television-internet relationship, there is an article from several months ago (I do not remember when, where, and by whom) that spoke of developing this collaboration. The most interesting tidbit from the article was that one firm was creating an interactive television, similar to WebTV, that would allow users (amongst other things) to click on a television character's clothing and be taken to the designer's Web site, where they can purchase it. If this is just one example, then I think the future of mr. and mrs. television-internet is a bright one.
I agree with Cynthia, I don't think the ratings are going to suffer severely. I am almost certain that there is going to be a big "boom" in ratings when the first couple of episodes start playing again after the strike. People are thirsty for anything besides reality TV right now (at least I am....who's with me?). I actually think that first week of network shows returning to the air are going to sell advertising for a pretty penny.
Although I think it's a possibility that TV ratings won't go completely back to normal with the re-start of television shows, I also think that TV is still the strongest medium for advertising. Until internet advertising can be effectively measured, I do not think it has a chance to replace television. Maybe a shift is very slowly beginning to occur, but I don't see advertisers making a sudden jump to focus on internet advertising as a dominant medium any time soon.
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