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The Web Versus Traditional Mediums
After people get done complaining about how slow Websites are/were,
two killer criticisms arise. One is that the Web is a passive
medium and traditional mediums are not. Simply stated, someone
has to choose to go to a Website, but television and radio commercial,
newspaper and magazine ads and billboards can force themselves
upon our consciousness. Killer criticism #2: only 50% of our population
has Internet access; everybody has a TV or radio. A reality check
shows that the lines between these mediums are blurring.
Television. Rebuttal #1. About TV ads pro-actively intruding
upon us. Four points: mute buttons, trips to the kitchen, pay-per-view,
and video tapes. Rebuttal #2: Yes, everyone has a TV. In the days
when we had three major networks, PBS and 1-2 independents per
market, TV made it possible for advertisers to reach far more
than 50% of the population. Today, however, with cable stations
and dish networks offering 100-200 channels, the TV market has
exploded into fragments, and reaching 50% of the market is extraordinarily
difficult and expensive.
Radio. Rebuttal #1: About radio commercials intruding
upon us. Three points: CD's and audio tapes in the car, at home
and at work; commercial free radio over the Net at work and at
home. Rebuttal #2: in the Tucson market, just to reach 50% of
the people, an advertiser must buy what's called "four deep" -
the top four rated radio stations, at an average cost of $100
per 60 second spot. In short, to reach 50% of the market, you're
gonna have to spend thousands per week and reaching a high percentage
of the market is next to impossible. So you can exceed the potential
reach of Websites, but at huge cost.
Print Advertising, Newspapers. Rebuttal #1: Well, just
how proactive is your newspaper ad when it takes up just 1/12
of the page and costs $1000? Rebuttal #2: Daily newspapers across
the country are dying. Two more on their death beds: The Albuquerque
Tribune and the Tucson Citizen. It takes the Sunday version of
The Arizona Daily Star or the Albuquerque Journal, for example,
to give you a shot at reaching more than 50% of the market, and
then good luck figuring out what section(s) to run your ads in.
Print Advertising, Magazines. Rebuttal #1: Just how proactive
is your magazine ad when you're on page 67 taking up 25% of the
real estate on that spread? Rebuttal #2: Reaching 50% of your
audience with magazine readership is harder than ever before.
Billboards. Rebuttal #1: Put a 14-foot x 48-foot billboard
beside the freeway and it is hard to miss. Still, do you know
how outdoor advertising companies calculate their reach? Traffic
counts. That's right. The assumption is that if you are traveling
down the Interstate and you can see a billboard, that means you've
looked at it. So billboard pro-activity may be exaggerated. Rebuttal
#2: Billboards do reach people in ways no other medium can, but
the recommended length of a billboard message is 7 words. How's
that for a limitation?
On the other hand, measurement is one killer criticism that Web/Net
proponents can level at traditional mediums. Consider: TV ratings
are skewed because they are based on tiny samples (you've heard
of the Nielsen ratings) taken during what's called sweeps week
- you can tell when the ratings are up for grabs - all of the
sudden, TV is worth watching. The ratings count audiences whether
the MUTE button is on or not, and whether you're in the bathroom
or in the kitchen doing chores.
Most newspapers and magazines carefully measure readership in
terms of distribution and pass-along rates (how many other people
read the pub when you're done), but most of the time, a publication
can't tell you what percentage of readers actually looked at every
ad.
Web statistics tell you just that. Visitor reports can give you
great detail about who's looking at what pages of your Website,
and how many seconds and minutes they spent there. You can also
learn a plethora of other details about your visitors.
In sum, it's true that the Web's a much more passive medium compared
to TV or radio, but the difference is not black and white. Secondly,
the Web is not at a competitive advantage because only 50% of
the population has Internet access. Today, that's a pretty good
reach for any medium.
In short, the Web's different from the other mediums, but not
inferior. As bandwidth increases dramatically over the next two
years and more audio and video arrives on Websites, the balance
of power will continue to shift and another couple of dozen daily
newspapers in the United States will cease to exist.
Correction: Dene Hagen from New Mexico points out an error
in a recent column, which stated that registering a domain name
at www.networksolutions.com
costs $30.00. The correct amount is $35.00. Thanks, Dene. We apologize
for the error. If you have a money-saving alternative to NetWork
Solutions you recommend, please email me.
This article first appeared as a column written
by Dave Tedlock, NetOutcomes' president, for Inside Tucson
Business and/or the New Mexico Business Weekly.
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