New Challenges for Old Media: Television

A tidal wave of change is about to inundate the media world. Virtually all old media are being redefined, reevaluated and, in some cases, relegated to irrelevancy. The net and the numbers are changing everything about the way marketers use media.

TV's picture isn't as bright as it used to be.

Broadcast TV. Upfront is the week in May when broadcast TV networks pitch their next season's programming to advertisers, agencies and media services. Almost 75% of prime time commercial avails used to be sold in negotiations squeezed between elaborate dog-and-pony shows and Epicurean feasts. This year the hoopla and sybaritic goings-on were a lot less extravagant than they used to be. Because selling TV time isn't quite the party it once was.

Back in the 1960s, when upfront began, the then three broadcast networks were the only effective way to reach the entire U.S. market. Advertisers' choices were buy network TV or be invisible. Not true anymore. There are plenty of other ways to reach segments of the now-splintered mass audience. And some of those splinters can no longer be reached by TV.