What’s “new media” now? We’ve hit the “500 channel universe” on the telly, the Web has become truly “interactive”, smart phones are ramping up for mobile use. We’re texting, tweeting, calling, voice mailing, videoing, gaming in vast virtual realities; creating and sharing content like never before in the history of mankind.
And now on the bleeding edge is “Augmented Reality” (AR) technologies. Think of it as your personal digital butler (see a video of Yelp’s Monocle in use here) using your smart phone to find out information about the real-world objects around you. Add in the ability to instantly add your 2 cents on a restaurant you just ate at or a coffee buying experience – well, you get the idea. We’ve added a whole new media channel. And as McLuhan said, the medium is shaped by how we use it. Will people use it and shape it? It’s simple enough to use. We’re already commenting on things. Then there’s Microsoft’s Natal project for the xbox.
My one area of concern over AR technologies is that studies have already shown people are reticent to use geo-location in their smart phones (less than .23% of mobile users in UK & USA). Using AR technologies requires some loss of privacy; are consumers willing to give more up?
More than anything, I just wonder, how many channels can we as citizens deal with and how many channels can marketers, PR pro’s etc., manage effectively? A lot of our research helps guide companies more effectively, but going from budgeting for 20 channels to 180 and then measuring effectiveness? When many metrics are still being debated and are yet to be defined?
What do you think? When is enough enough? At what point do we see channel decay in media formats? Or will we change?
It’s a question we get almost every day from current and prospective clients. Usually it focuses on Social Media, but of late Social Media is getting lumped into “media consumption” as a whole. Let’s put this into perspective. Generationally speaking.We think the question is more appropriately posited as “What media is most popular by age group?” Different age groups consume media in different ways. Understanding this is vital to developing effective communications strategies, advertising or marketing. read more
Value Disruption? That is, the disruption in how different types of media are valued. Pundits have been ringing the death bell of broadcast television for years, yet TV consumption has risen! Twitter was beaten up at first by bloggers et al, today it is the rage (perhaps the new email killer app?) The music industry is clinging to scratchy vinyl and the market doesn’t care. Radio is shifting and the jury is still out, yet Satellite and Internet Radio seems to be picking up the lost transistor waves.
Marketer Tom Hespos railed on about the waning of terrestrial radio and cited the writings of Adam Gerber of “media potholes” those dark spots where “advertising” doesn’t reach, or consumers who don’t listen to channels with any advertising messages.
The once crisp lines of media channels are blurring. Usage patterns are shifting and we are seeing a greater diffusion of how and where people consume media of all types. As video blurs across the Web between professional and consumer generated, the “value” of that media is disrupted. I suspect the major networks currently laying off employees due to “falling advertising revenues” is not entirely due to the “recession” we are/aren’t in. Rather, the marketing dollars are being spread around.
What we may come to find is that not all cuts being made now in various media channels are the actual result of an economic downturn nationally or globally – but of the disruption in value because of so many diverse channels and the growing shift in how, what and where consumers consume media.
The cost of delivering media en masse is lower than ever in human history, as is the cost of production. The cost of accessing the channels that deliver the media, and the pervasiveness of those channels has contributed to this.
I believe we may be seeing the start of the result of value disruption in the economic ecosystem of media, it just so happens to be tying in nicely with the “recession” if that is what we are in. What do you think?