How Mobile Technology is Killing TV Commercial Production
The internet has always been seen as a possible threat to TV commercial production (and by extension, television advertising) since its inception in the 1990s. But TV certainly has not gone down without a fight. Along with changing business models, television networks and studios have been experimenting with different styles of programming in order to attract larger and more faithful audiences. While this newer content has enjoyed a great deal of success in recent years, much of it is broadcast over subscription-based channels, while ad-based television remains in decline. And the decline has never been as steep as it is now that mobile technology is becoming the primary mode of content delivery among mainstream users and consumers.
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The Killer App
Digital advertising budgets are expected to surpass television ad spending in 2017, and much if not all of that shift can be attributed to the rise of mobile technology. Not only are companies like Netflix and Amazon ramping up their production and raising the bar for quality online video content, but the rapid and expansive proliferation of smartphones and tablets also gives the average consumer immediate access to online content from virtually any location. The sales of televisions are also in rapid decline, with a 3.4% decline in the second quarter of 2016 (the worst performance for TV sales since 2009). The television is dying and the mobile device is killing it.
Even though video production is considerably less expensive now than it’s ever been, the return on investment for TV commercial production is shrinking quickly. Marketers are finding much more lucrative opportunities in mobile digital channels and new media; formats that can be abstract and somewhat amorphous, but will become more concrete as mobile display technology continues to evolve into the next decade.
The evolution of TV commercial production into digital ads is beneficial to both content consumers and advertisers. Over the course of their existence, TV commercials have developed a reputation for being intrusive, annoying and very rarely helpful. But the interactive nature of digital technology helps both the user and the seller to optimize the ad-viewing experience.
Convenience is King
The bottom line is that, no matter how high television tries to raise the bar in terms of content, ad-based television is dying, while digital advertising is in a state of growth and evolution. And it all comes down to convenience for the end user. Even if television survives as a medium, and even if it incorporates some of the same interactive ad functionality as mobile advertising, it will play a much smaller role in how people consume content in the forthcoming mobile digital age. Need more?
