Media Consumption habits and the effects on advertising.

Changes in Media Consumption Habits Affecting Advertisers
By SCOTT LEHANE
Advertising is the life-blood of the broadcast industry, and with the Internet and other new media garnering a rapidly growing share of ad budgets, broadcasters are facing a new world of competition from non-traditional advertising vehicles.
The goals, however, remain the same – capturing and holding coveted eyeballs and delivering targeted demographics to advertisers.
But in the world of mobile video, MP3 players, iPods and Blackberries (not to mention Facebook, blogs, and “mashable content”), those eyeballs are a little more distracted these days, and advertisers are exploring other ways to reach their target demographics.
However, it’s not all bad news for the broadcast industry. While new media advertising is growing at a breathtaking pace (doubling last year’s numbers), broadcast advertising revenues are also growing, despite gradually declining viewers and listeners.
“Financially, it’s had little effect on the top-line growth in television numbers,” said Ron Lund, president and CEO of The Association of Canadian Advertisers. “In fact, television is up year-over-year. However, having said that, advertisers will tell you that a bigger and bigger part of their budget, which would normally have been allocated under television, is now, in fact, going to new media. And that is becoming an increased percentage every year.”

continued on http://www.acaweb.ca/mediaroom/broadcastdialogue_oct07.pdf

“The bigger story is the sweeping changes in media consumption habits that are affecting advertisers,” he added. “People are spending so much time on the Internet, that in many key demographics, they spend as much or more time in front of computer screens than they do
in front of a television screen. In many people’s minds, the mobile phone is emerging as the predominant medium – the one that has the most effect on people’s lives.”
He predicted the emergence of the “Third Screen” (video-enabled mobile phones) will have an even more dramatic impact on advertising than anything we’ve seen in recent years.
“The biggest form of advertising to emerge in the last few years is search-related advertising (which has made Google rich), and it’s likely that it’s just a matter of time before that same form of advertising emerges on mobile phones,” he said.
Between online gaming, mobile phones and the Internet, it’s getting particularly difficult for advertisers to reach the younger audience without cross-platform strategies. But there are obvious limitations to the amount of multitasking even the most adept teenager can handle.