Over the past 15 years the Internet has had a major impact on traditional advertising media. Printed newspapers, Yellow pages, direct mail, magazines, brochures and more have seen consumers and advertisers move online. During this period television viewership and advertising has stayed strong in spite of the Internet. Well, now television advertising is going to feel the power of online according to an article in USA Today.
Meet the new prime time. Same as the old prime time. What is changing is that smaller screens on mobile devices are being used at home more than ever expected. And, surprisingly, people are watching longer and longer videos on their mobile devices, even the smallest screens.
This new cyber audience that has grown up with on-demand video and DVR time-shifting scorns appointment TV in favor of a user-generated viewing experience in which they are in control. “People are consuming their content at the time they prefer, on the devices they prefer and increasingly in the context they prefer,” says Jay Fulcher, CEO of Ooyala, the video management company for networks, broadcasters and content providers that shared its user consumption data with USA TODAY.
The key concept here is that consumers want to be in control. That means viewing video content that previously would never have made it to broadcast television, to fast forwarding through commercials or paying for commercial free video.
All of this adds up to a rapidly approaching challenge to the way advertisers reach consumers on a screen.
Stay tuned.