Digital Changes

"What is often a rather humdrum discussion of the strengths of magazines, TV and other media venues this year turned into an exercise in grenade launching and hand wringing over the increasingly obvious shortcomings in media measurement.

This year's 4A's Media Conference was given the title "Digital Changes Everything." That much is a truism accepted by most many moons ago, but what became evident as the panels and speeches at this year's event unfolded is that the digitization of our lives is raising questions a lot of media owners and agencies are far from being able to answer."




"When asked about the future of TV and of video on the internet, people reveal profound differences in attitudes based on age groups. We asked people ages 12 to 64 if they agreed (on a scale of one to five, with five meaning they agreed completely) with two statements about the future of TV and competition with the TV for entertainment time."



" For a variety of shows, the Web proves valuable as a time machine, permitting users to catch up on missed episodes. The Web site for “Jericho,” a show that was canceled by CBS but revived last year because of Internet-savvy fans, had roughly 1.3 million video views in the first week after the show’s second-season debut on Feb. 12. Less than half of those views were of the premiere episode; the rest were from viewers catching up on the first season or sharing clips.

In addition to tracking the episode views, CBS measures the amount of online conversation happening about shows.

“We’re still midstream,” said Nina Tassler, the president of CBS Entertainment. “We’re still learning about people’s behaviors and we’re still learning about what shows really resonate with an online audience.”

Switch To All-Digital

"It’s coming sooner than you think.

As of Feb. 17, 2009, if you have an old (“analog”) TV and use an antenna (so that’s, what, five people?), you won’t be able to watch TV anymore unless you get a converter box. Seriously.

All “full-power” TV stations in the U.S. will switch to all-digital broadcasting. So the feds are actually offering $50 coupons to anyone who needs to get a box. This doesn’t apply to anyone who has cable/satellite/pay service or a TV with a digital tuner."



"THE NAME NIELSEN MAY BE most closely associated with the medium of television, but it is the Internet--especially social forms of online media--that is having the greatest influence on the way the research and publishing giant delivers its own messages to the public. In its latest foray into online publishing, the Nielsen Co. has quietly launched the "Nielsen Blog," a new Web destination featuring the waxings and musings of its array of experts on marketing and media research topics. The first installment of the blog, located at blog.nielsen.com, delves into what arguably is the industry's biggest annual marketing and media event--the Super Bowl--and future iterations will focus primarily on other big cyclical events and topical issues. The next big focus is likely to be the Academy Awards, another event that draws on the vast arsenal of Nielsen advertising, media, marketing and entertainment data streams."