Every time my brother in law sees LuLu, my 15 year old dog, he exclaims, “that thing’s not dead yet?!”.
He’s a funny guy, but what it brings to mind is no laughing matter; the decade of delusion which prompted every digital disciple to proselytize the demise of TV, which eventually devolved into a similar refrain. From “TV is Dead”, to “TV is Dying”, to “that thing’s not dead yet ?!”.
I haven’t heard much on these mantras lately either:
- “Consumers now control and curate their own content.”
- “Progressive advertising is about reaching the right person at the right place at the right time.”
- “Any Screen, Any time.”
- “The digital habits of millennials….. blah blah blah”
You know what I am hearing? It’s getting More expensive to advertise on TV. I’m no economist, but I’m pretty sure that demand causes prices to go up and that demand is an insistent and peremptory request. You can’t demand much, if anything, from a dead entity now can you? “In a survey of media agencies, Ad Age found that 38 of the returning series are set to see ad costs go up this year”, according to Marketingcharts.com.
I hate to say I told you so, so instead I’ll say it differently. It turns out that the Digital Dreadnought was just a Bathtub Toy Boat. How come all the TV is Dead loudmouths are no longer towing the line? Where are all the carnival barkers touting the variety and novelty of flexible digital channels that effortlessly afford brand storytelling through text, images, video, and more?
I don’t know. But I do know this.. the soft science of advertising has to answer to the numbers eventually. Take a good look at that chart above again.
TV is not dead, it’s alive and kicking.
