Mind space shift
With the endless bombardment of advertising messages, it's getting harder and harder to gain attention for any product. The strategy on television has been to slice and dice ads from one minute to 30 seconds and less, thanks to ever higher rates and an attempt to get the message across as often as possible. But these moves are increasingly less effective, especially given the ability to zap out ads with a remote control or the video recorder.
Now, according to a Wall Street Journal article ("Adieu, 30-Second TV Ad", 6/22/2004), companies are going in the opposite direction. In the UK at least, companies like Interbrew, Procter & Gamble, and Honda have started making two-minute ads. These ads, with smarter production values, are like mini-movies. They aren't repeated as often as the 30-second ads, but the calculation is that they'll have greater impact by actually catching viewer attention. One ad agency manager is quoted as saying "The thing about people having short attention spans is that they've only got short attention spans if there's something that's not of interest."
This is yet another step in the ongoing process to make entertainment and marketing indistinguishable. There's an ongoing process as viewers flee from advertising with improved technology, so advertisers seek to shift their shapes and keep up with the viewers. For the companies that own the advertising space, the decreasing effectiveness of the ads does not result in a corresponding lowering of prices. It's true that relative ratings determine the relative value of CBS's ad time versus that of CNN, but the overall ad rates keep going up. Not only that, but the number of ads squeezed in per hour are up as well. And, as we've said, the narrow control of TV means that what ABC loses in relative revenue will be made up, at least in part, by increased viewership and rates for its affiliate ESPN or by its local TV stations. There is next to no price competition among the players in this oligopoly, as so few of them own all the shelf space.
5:59:16 PM 
|
|
