The effects the media changes have on advertising

The media and advertising met a major cultural shift in the last decade and changes still continue to occur. The reason for these changes is the need to adapt to the current development of technology. The costumer bases of traditional media outlets (newspapers & commercial TV networks) are deteriorated by the rise of the new media outlets. The biggest operator of this is the internet (GroupM, 2013). The need to be able to adapt and stay flexible in order to be successful in the environment they are operating is the main concern of advertisers.

A lot more fragmentation and personalisation will affect the development of the media consumption. Most consumers also use more than one screen at the same time to make most of their time. A research made by the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) in 2011, shows that while they browse the internet, 70% of the users use at least one more medium, and half of them use mobile internet when they watch TV (EIAA, 2011).

Source: European Mobile Internet Use Executive Summary, Jan 2011, EIAA

The fast growing use of smartphones, tablets and smart TVs helps consumers use several screens simultaneously to get information and entertainment easier. According to PQ Media, the number of media platform available today is more than 100, compared to only eight in the 1970's, and each of those categories is very fragmented as well (Mandese, 2012).

Marketers can no longer rely on the programmatic delivery of brand messaging. Determining need states has to happen in real time so that they can balance delivery of paid communications in channels they can control (GroupM, 2013). Knowing the consumers using habits can be really useful for the companies, due to the fact that it allows them to target the right media, in the right place and at the right time. 

The number of smart phones and tablets users is higher than the number of Computer users (Ting, 2012), and although consumers assign 10% of their media attention on the mobile device they are using, the advertising spend for these platforms only required 1% of their attention. Although print media only gets 7% of the reader's media time, it still takes 25% of the of the ad-spend. This shows that there is still a lot of catching up and growing for the mobile medium to do (Ting, 2012).  

Social media also has an important part in the changes of the media due to the fact that is one of the most effective advertising tool. Advertising is losing part of its effectiveness  because of the growth of the social media and networking. Consumers now hold a control they never had before over brands (Powers et al, 2011). Social networks allow an easy communication between brand and consumers, though giving people the roles of receivers, creators, critics, advocates, transformers and transmitters of the messages (Wasiak, 2010).  Consumers can not only approve and recommend a brand, they can also complain, which makes marketers worry about how things will evolve and how they can address the issues. Brian Solis created a conversation prism (see image bellow) to offer a point of view for the mash-up (Wasiak, 2010). 

Connecting with consumers through the social platforms can be extremely beneficial for brands and companies. For example, the luxury brand Burberry, has adapted really well to the current era. For a luxury brand, the web can be a tricky environment (Daily, 2012). Burberry's social media success has grown rapidly, and it still continues to grow fast. Their success is owed to the fact that they share so many of the news, campaigns and exclusive content with their followers on social networking platforms (Arthurs, 2012). The content differs from one platform to another to encourage people to follow the brand on all of them. The more positioned the community is, the more successful it will be. Social media is a great tool to approach like-minded crowds that can positively impact the online presence (Brown, 2009). 

Another change that affects the media is the media intrusion and its impact on trust. In October 2003, the USA released the 'Do Not Call' law that allowed people to protect themselves by blocking marketers and others from making call sales in their homes (GroupM, 2013). From the 'Do Not Call' idea, Microsoft released the 'Do Not Track' option with the launch on Internet Explorer 10, the first browser, that provides such option. This options allows consumers to stop receiving advertising based on their search history when they browse the internet (Edwards, 2012). The advertising industry called 'Do Not Track' unacceptable and blasted Microsoft for making it a default setting when installing the browser (Keizer, 2012). The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) said "Microsoft's decision to block collection and use of information by default will significantly reduce the diversity of Internet offerings and potentially cheat society of the robust offerings that are currently available." (Keizer, 2012). The application will cause commercial harm to advertisers, although 'Do Not Track' affects consumers differently than 'Do Not Call':

1. The data used online does not require personal and identifiable information.
2. The application of data increases the relevance and value of the ads delivered, and this has some benefit to the consumer.
3. If the effectiveness of the of the online advertising is damaged, then most of the current online content will be impaired, and most of it will lose funding.

(GroupM, 2013)

Interactive coming to print or augmented reality is another issue in the media. Layar, a Netherlands-based software developer, created smartphone applications that activate print media with digital content (Layar, 2013). This type of software has been downloaded on more the 20 million devices and it offers the perfect balance between old and new media, because it "breathe some life" in a "dying medium" (print), (Verrecchio, 2012). It is also very effective because it makes the consumers interact with the brand by letting them embed videos and interactive buttons onto existing printed materials. A number of companies are already successfully using this type of advertising, for example Hyundai, Nivea, Starbucks, Net-a-Porter, and others (Russell, 2012). A study made by ABI Research showed that the augmented reality market will be worth £1.8bn by 2016. The success of the augmented reality comes from a separate revolution, the emerge of the smartphone (Sakr, 2011). 

(Cameron, 2013)

To sum up, for a business to survive in the current era, adapting to the current media changes, is crucial in advertising. Through an effective way of using social platforms and media, a company can easily interact with its publics, which can be very beneficial and helpful. 

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