The expansion of the number
of media options and media channels has fragmented audiences. What used to be a
mass audience is now dispersed across multiple screens and platforms. While
there were barely two or three TV channels in most countries in the 1970s,
there are hundreds of cable and online channels today. Digital
radio and podcasts have split the audience for audio. The internet has further
diluted audience concentration. As a result, it is much harder for marketers to
reach target consumers.
At an IRI (Information Resources Inc.) summit in
2006, Jesper Wiegandt, then Marketing Director at Procter & Gamble said of the U.S.:
“To reach 80% of the population in 1977, you would have needed just
three television advertising spots. To reach the same figure today, around 75
spots are required”.
It does not help that over time, the cost of TV
advertising has grown faster than inflation. Advertising clutter too has grown
as a result of an overcrowded marketplace, as also the trend from 30–60 second
spots to 10–15 seconds. Furthermore, with the help of technology, viewers are able
to skip ads by zapping, grazing and channel surfing.
As a result, efficiency and effectiveness has
declined sharply, and there is growing disenchantment with mainstream media.
Marketers are facing the challenges of lower returns on their advertising
spend, greater complexity in reaching their target consumers, and the need to
coordinate and integrate their communication programme across multiple media
platforms. And as they spread their
budgets across media, the share of conventional media is in decline.
