Advertising in agony

Recently I used to believe that advertising in traditional media was being threatened by Internet; most of advertisers seemed to be hypnotized by this phenomenon. I scarcely understood how advertising on Internet worked and much less how it was going to work in the coming years once Internet took almost all the information over. I had many doubts. However, by reading what Erick Clemons wrote on his article “why advertising is failing on the Internet” I now realized that advertising is in agony not only in traditional media but also on Internet.

If people are spending much time consuming Internet instead of traditional media, how is this industry assuming such a loss? What I know is that they are offering a variety of alternatives perfectly targeted to reach determined groups. In doing so, it generates value for their clients or advertisers. But even so, traditional media are dropping in advertising revenues. Surprisingly Internet is suffering loss, too, principally due to the fact that its leaders don’t know how to build an appealing scenario in which navigators don’t reject ads. There is nothing clear in terms of advertising today.

By now, both traditional media and Internet are working together. It is a necessary symbiosis created to face the challenges of this technological revolution and to survive. Nowadays, Internet industry sells its data to traditional media. It is a mutual benefit in which each industry earns a profit, but once Internet learns how to monetize its advertising platform, it will work separately, in an independent way. Soon after, we all are going to see a carnival of pure cannibalism between them.

Since economy depends largely on trading, advertising will never play a pivotal role in it. What media should adjust to the near future is the context in which media offers its spaces. Traditional media should not procrastinate a solution any longer. What will they do when Internet only provide data just for itself? How will they offer personalized spaces without a proper demographic analysis? How are they going to compete in the face of such a variety of content? It is inevitable that traditional media does not face tough situations during the next years. While for its part, Internet must rush to design efficient advertising models.

In case Internet gets to control almost all advertising and traditional media are no longer required, it will become even stronger. Then, I will have to deal with more questions. For instance, are we going to be threatened by Internet?