A New Era for Advertisers

In his article, The Post Advertising Age, Bob Garfield describes the end of advertising as we know it. According to the author, a substantial number of video and move advertisers may soon find themselves out of work because online advertising is increasing.As a subject field of fact, numberless viewers of television and readers of print media have already been seduced by the world wide web, which now caters to their viewing and reading needs better than television and print media ever could.The world of the Internet is interactive, allowing users to fulfill their viewing or reading needs depending on their demands at any given time. The television and print media, on the other hand, do not carry the advantages that the Internet has. In short, the kinds of choices available to users of the Internet cannot be matched by the advantages of television or print media.The save choice for a television viewer is to change the channels until he or she finds something of interest. The reade r of a print magazine, on the other hand, has to purchase a new magazine if the one that he has already bought does not suit his interests.The Internet, on the contrary, is not only cheap, but also has the advantage of presenting all kinds of breeding to the user. Hence, the advantages of online advertising surpass the advantages of television and print media advertising based on the basic benefits of Internet use as compared to television and print media.The number of mass viewing MTV has been drastically reduced, thanks to the virtues of the Internet which allows the MTV generation to now enjoy online videos.1 Also according to GarfieldIn December 2005, Viacom spun off CBS, the so-called Tiffany Network, lest the broadcast commercial enterprise impede growth and depress shareholder rank.Just before Christmas 2005, Time Inc. laid off degree centigrade employees. Just after Christmas, inJanuary 2006, Time Inc. laid off 100 more employees. In April 2006, Time Inc. laid off 250 m ore employees-the last round of job cuts, the company said. In January, Time Inc. laid off300 more employees. No wonder. Since 2001, Time Warners market capitalization has shrunk to $82 billion from $193 billion.Last fall, ostensibly to promote their new seasons, five broadcast networks bypassed their local affiliates and gave away new programs online.In October 2006, NBC announced a $750 million cost cutback, including 700 jobs and amoratorium on scripted programs in the first hour of prime time.In November 2006, Clear Channel-the boogeyman of media consolidation-sold to private- equity owners and declared that it wants to unload its TV and small-market radio receiver stations.The sale fetched $38 a share. In 2000, the stock sold at $100 a share.The Minneapolis Star Tribune, acquired by McClatchy in 1998 for $1.2 billion, was sold to private investors in December 2006 for $530 million.In 2000, Chicago-based Tribune Co. was valued at $12 billion. It then bought Times-Mirror Co. for more than $8 billion. At this writing, with Tribune Co. for sale as a whole or in part, the value of the merged company is $7.34 billion.21 Bob Garfield, The Post Advertising Age, Advertising Age, 78(13) 26 March 2007.