Content & Advertising: A Changing Relationship
We used to have an understanding. The audience would consume media and marketers would use this as a platform to deliver advertising through well-established formats, such as 30-second commercials, full-page print ads and more recently online banner ads.
The issue is that the nature of content is changing.
It is becoming more portable. This has meant that we now have more control over when, where and how they consume media.
It is fantastic in that consumers now have more choice and control over their media behavior; however, with each of these new formats the relationship between advertising and content becomes more diluted.
Examples include:
* Watching TV shows online, through TiVo, and/or through the Slingbox
* Reading news via a RSS reader, such as iGoogle
* Listening to radio online at Pandora or through podcasts on iTunes
Jonathan Handel, a digital media lawyer, does a good job of outlining what he believes to be the reason for content’s devaluation.
The fourth point he makes is that, “…most new media business models are ad-supported rather than pay per view or subscription. If there’s no cost to the user, why should consumers see the content as valuable, and if some content is free, why not all of it? True, ads impose a cost in the form of user attention, but many online ads are easily ignored, and, today, even television advertisements can be skipped using TiVo.”
I believe that over time this shift will have an ever-increasing impact on all media, not only changing the nature of how people consume media, but also changing the nature of why people create media.
Already many people who create content do not do so as a means to generate ad revenue. Those at the forefront of this movement include musicians who make more money from selling tickets to concerts than from selling albums. The media becomes a platform not to serve advertising, but to start a more engaging relationship that provides value beyond ad dollars.
This will also mean that advertisers have to find other methods to connect with consumers that go beyond the standard ad formats. Instead of working to insert their message in other’s content they will work to create their own content that is relevant to their brand and for consumers.
There are lots of great examples out there. One that stands out is inthemotherhood.com from Suave and Sprint. It delivers on the brand messaging while being entertaining.
This should be a call to all marketers to begin to look at how we can connect to consumers by being part of the conversation and not just as the ones who subsidize it.
Image Credit: quinn.anya
