David A. Windham

Advertising and the Idiot Box

let’s face it.. that computer screen you watching as you read this post and it’s parent network of millions of servers are full of junk and in many ways not to different than our old idiot tube. It’s all in how you use it that makes it different… and the primary difference is dynamic data. You can ask you computer questions in the form of “search” and this is why we’re seeing the shift. We aren’t only being entertained by our computers, they’ve become a invaluable communications tool for information and business, but it seems that the focus on revenue online has been entirely through advertising in one form or another. The billions spent by banks, hospitals, manufacturers and distributors on internet enabled software and applications goes mostly unpublished excepting in the trade magazines. The shift to new media for advertising dollars is getting reported everyday and i figured i’d share these tidbits with you.
ad graph
ad graph2
ad share
from silicon valley insider… see the spreadsheet data… and i believe that Newscorps MySpace will lose users and push them below Google for 2008… and this is coming from “no” valley insider or Google bull fanboy.. just the average computer user who knows that orkut or facebook are much better and less spammy than MySpace, and that Google’s search is still the fastest way to get where i think i want to go online.
And while you may already know that Clear Channel likely owns most of your local radio stations..If you’re in South or North Carolina, you may want to note that the Mclatchy Corp owns most of our newspapers.. The State – Columbia, The Sun News – Myrtle Beach, The Herald – Rock Hill, The Beaufort Gazette, The Island Packet – Blufton Hilton Head , The Charlotte Observer, The News and Observer – Raleigh…
youtube tive
and on another note.. last week tivo announced that they would be adding a internet video to it’s content lineup.. no computer or equipment needed.. just the the broadband connection, the tivo box and your television… and with the advent of digital broadcasting and the federally mandated switch.. you can bet that your internet content is going to move to your tv screen without the addition of a slingbox, apple tv, or other specialized rig… Ginny and i saw a commercial recently from some pharma company on our Direct Tv Satellite.. and sure enought.. the click now button that appeared during the commercial took us to an interactive direct tv page.. it looked like crap but it had more info on the product.. and if this train stays on the track .. i should be very busy in the coming years hosting, creating and linking digital content to the traditional advertising streams, but i’d rather be playing super smash brothers… which seems so much more indicative of the idiot box i know. 🙂

super smash brothers