The sky isn’t falling. However, ad revenues are a different story. To explain this I will begin this
way:
Newspapers are in the
advertising business. They sell ad space to the advertisers and they sell ads
to the readers. However, customers won’t pay for a newspaper full of ads, so
the newspaper gives away the news as an inducement to buy the ads. Don’t tell
me no.
Television, regardless of the format, is doing the same
thing. However, as people will not pay
to watch advertising (In time or dollars), Television gives the content away as
an
inducement to watch the ads.
This brings us to the viewer. What’s in it for the viewer? What does the viewer want?
No one, no one, my age watched more television than I did.
Viewers’ tastes are changing and doing so at an accelerated rate.
Case in point: In only a few years, cooking
channels reduced the number of cooking shows replacing them with cooking
competition shows. Home design shows
have changed from interior or exterior design to shows that repeatedly show
designers and homeowners repeatedly smashing walls and cabinets. Repeatedly.
At
the end? We never have the opportunity to appreciate the results. Why not? Cut to, Cut to. A candlestick, a chair leg, a cuspidor a door
knob, cut to, cut to cut to. And the
paradigm extends to the real cooking show: an egg yolk, a lemon slice, a pinch
of salt—cut to, cut to, cut to….
This should clue you in to something important. Short flashes of a series of images
reminiscent of MTV when music videos embraced or perhaps initiated the same
paradigm. Result? Short attention spans and desperation to be
entertained in a manner consistent with short attention spans.
The Media-Suits are befuddled. Yes, you are. (Disclosure: My wife and I watch CNBC all
day, except for 2:00 when we watch the talk.
And we have cable. Therefore I know what I said is true because I listen
to you talking about it all the time.)
Don’t be disheartened. You are
not alone.
One of the world’s most celebrated geniuses, Thomas Edison,
clutched retentively to his belief that Direct Current (DC) was the future.
Others believe that Alternating Current was the future. Edison made every effort to discredit
AC. I short, Edison tried to bully the
customer into buying what he wanted to sell, instead of selling what the
customer wanted to buy.
In my review of the book, Business Results Revolution, I
wrote, “If Ron Johnson had read only the first three pages of Sandy
Richardson’s book, Business Results Revolution, he would still be CEO a JCP.
Mr. Johnson tried to convince his customers to buy what he
wanted to sell—everyday low pricing, instead of selling what the customers
wanted to buy—discounts and coupons.
And they are not alone.
A very brief history.
Talkin’ pitchers? Folks don’t want to hear all that jibber
jabber. They want to see real actin’.
Telly, vision? Folks
don’t want to squint at that tiny, little screen. They want to watch pitchers
on the big screen.
And we have the paradigm of Odious Bilgewater, the owner of
the Kansachusetts Buggy Whip Company.
The solution to competing with the motor car is mass
production to cut the cost of the buggy whip.
As much as I hate to stop making custom made buggy whips, mass
production will cut the cost of buggy whips and folks will flock back to buyin’
buggies. Asides, the motor car is just a noisy smelly toy for the rich. It will
never replace the horse.
But the joke is in the way I said it. Not in what I said.
Remember 8-Tracks v. Cassettes? Then came CDs.
How about VHS v. Beta? Then came DVDs.
Remember the brouhaha over Napster? i-pods are now the gold standard. Not just
the device, but the concept of downloaded music.
DVDs? Now? Streaming Video.
This is why I am shocked to hear that Television stations
have shifted to content that will appeal to people who don’t watch
television.
Yep. That’s what the Media
Suits are really saying. We are trying to attract [millennials] to television
because that is the audience that the advertisers want. Really? The audience that brought us the technology
to “skip the ads.”
“There are no
unintended consequences. Only unwanted consequences.” From the Quotations
of Slim Fairview.
When you changed content to attract viewers who don’t watch
television, you are driving away viewers who do watch television.
Does it occur to anyone to sell “ad time” to
people who are trying to sell to Boomers instead of selling ad time to people
who are trying to attract Millennials? (Who are designing technology to block
or skip the ads?)
None-the-less, the Media Suits are so fixated with trying to
convince the customers to buy what they want to sell, they are not spending
enough time trying to sell what the customers want to buy.
What do they want to buy?
It does sound like market segmentation.
Millennials, who may well be viewing content
on an i-phone or a tablet v. Boomers who may well be sitting in front of a
television set.
But “value” in advertising is important. And Facebook has the right idea.
If I post a comment saying I’m looking for new tires,
Facebook may post ads for tire dealers in my area: Joe’s Tire and Battery on Union Blvd. in
Allentown. Or Sam’s Club on Northampton Street in Easton. Each is a good company in my shopping area. I
want information. Facebook provides it.
And I am far from being a Millennial.
Conclusion? Stop
quibbling: Cable, Cord cutting, Comcast, Direct TV, et. al.
The technology is changing. Direct Current
lost. Buggy-wagons are no longer the preferred choice of transportation. Get ahead of the curve.
“You can’t stop the arrival of history, you can only delay
it. History is coming.” The Quotations
of Slim Fairview.
Warmest regards.
Slim.
If you find anything here to be helpful, please don't hesitate to send me a really tricked out Mac Book and to tuck a few dollars into the envelope along with the thank you note. Slim.
Bob Asken
Box 33
Pen Argyl, PA 18072
Disclaimer. Any
products mentioned are done so at the author’s discretion and for the purposes
of information only. There are no endorsement fees, compensation, remuneration
or quid-pro-quo solicited or accepted.
Sandy Richardson’s Book, Business Results Revolution. I wrote a review for this book on my
blog. With all that I write, whether
about China’s global and economic strategy, the EuroCrisis, or the Economic
Crisis among emerging nations, my Review of Sandy Richardson’s book is the 9th
most read article on my blog—all time.
Copyright © 2015 Bob
Asken,
All rights reserved.
