Television advertising losing ground to the Internet

On the heals of Martindale-Hubbell announcing the offering of television advertising to law firms, we find leading advertising agencies and their customers moving away from TV ads to the Internet.

Frank Ahrens of the Washington Post reports:

…[T]he 30-second TV spot is imperiled as never before. Its competition: A dizzying array of digital and Internet options, many of which produce instant results and valuable consumer data, something that TV ads cannot……Consumers are spending more time online and less watching network television. When they do watch, more viewers have the ability to use TiVo to bypass ads. Consumers demand more from their advertising — they want product information, consumer reviews and purchase options, not just a glib message pitched by a celebrity. And they want information tailored for them, not a mass audience……Even the TV networks sense the demise of the 30-second spot. Every network is reallocating resources to expand its programming to the Web to follow viewers and advertisers. A report by Forrester Research last year found that about half of the more than 100 advertisers surveyed said their ad agencies were ‘ill-equipped’ to deal with the upheaval in the TV industry.

And Ahrens found the facts that support the move to the net:

• Network television advertising revenue increased 2 percent in 2006 while Internet ad spending rose 35 percent per the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).
• TNS Media Intelligence predicts that all ad spending will grow 1.7 percent compared with last year, with Internet ad spending rising 16 percent and network TV revenue 1.3 percent.
• Money is moving from TV and print, per IAB, to digital spending with search-based advertising gets the biggest piece of the pie, 40 percent.

Ahrens also found innovative companies like Nike moving to Ad agencies who know the net. Wieden+Kennedy, which had developed the iconic ‘Just Do It’ tagline and many memorable television commercials lost Nike because the company “did not believe the agency had the necessary digital expertise to promote Nike shoes online.”

Source on post: Mike Masnick at TechDirt, who beleives despite the move away from TV to the net, TV ads still have their place.

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