For all the media chatter today, you’d think that TV was a “Survivor” contestant who’s always just a few votes away from being booted from the island. In a world awash in Web video, mobile content, Tweets and other alternatives, TV’s been cast as having a limited life span in the face of these newer, nimbler, seemingly more popular competitors.
But if Bob Crowley – a 58-year-old physics teacher, for Pete’s sake! – could come out on top earlier this year, then why should we be surprised that TV is continuing to hold its own against the media young? When the chips are on the line for programmers and advertisers, television gets the thumbs-up just about every time.
Consider: Even among the 18-to-24 year old group that is TV’s greatest “at risk” audience, live TV viewing still grabs roughly 30% more attention than all other “second screens” combined. Three recent studies drew a direct link between TV impressions and market share, while a fourth showed that net recall of TV ads was twice that of magazine ads and almost triple that of Internet banner ads. (Interestingly, eye-tracking software showed that 63% of web users didn’t even see the banner ads.)
Television – especially in an era of interactive TV programming and targeted advertising — isn’t going away anytime soon. Even as retirement savings wither faster than last week’s prom flowers and salaries are about as stable as a Middle East peace, projections of big-screen TV sales growth this year still is expected to be about 17 percent.
There are doomsayers who claim that the Internet is going to kill the television experience. Of course, there was a time when doomsayers said that television was going to kill movies. Instead, the film industry learned to accentuate its positives, leverage new technologies and recognize TV as a promotional partner. Not for nothing, but didn’t some “Terminator” flick just open with about $77 million in box office?
At the end of the day, there’s a screen for every purpose. The evolution of Internet video isn’t enabling the PC to replicate the TV experience, any more than television was able to replicate the movie experience. (BTW, necking with your girlfriend when Dad’s in the rec room is especially tough, but that’s another issue.)
Like a good reality show contestant, TV is playing to its strengths. And as long as it gives viewers a reason to vote “Yes” with their remotes, it will continue to stay on top.
