DMN3 Blog

For many years now, television has been the favorite medium of people in the U.S. and other developed countries. Advertisers have recognized this fact and have made television and newspaper advertising the top two largest advertising channels.

"The Times They Are A-Changin…"

The Internet is fast becoming the universal medium for consumers. What I mean by "universal" is that it is ubiquitous and represents the convergence of telecommunications, publishing, radio, television and computing into a single medium.

The same Internet content is available around the world, although translation and filtering still hinders access to some of it. It is also "real time" and "asynchronous" in that content becomes quickly available to everyone once it is posted on the Internet and they can choose to view it when they want.

It is no wonder that the growth of the Internet has been phenomenal. The Internet is a communications channel that is now more highly valued than other forms of communication by users around the world.

A recent 11-country survey by the research company, Snynovate, shows us just how far the Internet has come. In a survey of 8,600 people across 11 countries in September of this year, the highest percentage of people said that they could not live without the Internet when compared to other forms of communication.

In the United States, 58% of those surveyed said that they can’t live without the Internet compared to 34% who can’t live without television.

It is also of interest to note that 35% of respondents say they can’t live without their cell phone. Smart phones are a game changer.

Given these facts, is it any wonder that advertisers are following consumers to the Internet? The growth of online advertising is outpacing the growth of all other advertising mediums. By the end of 2008 (the last full year of data), online advertising had surpassed radio and magazine advertising to become the third largest advertising channel.

Experts predict that the Internet will soon become the largest advertising medium in the U.S. The recent economic slump has actually accelerated the relative rise of the Internet as an advertising medium. The decline in advertising spending for newspapers and television outlets has been far greater than the drop in Internet advertising.

The fact is, the Internet has already surpassed television and is now the largest advertising medium in the UK and Denmark. Other countries aren't far behind.

If we compare Internet advertising with television advertising over their respective first 14 years of adoption by consumers, we see that the Internet advertising has outperformed television advertising from its start. Given the growth differential, it is not hard to reach the same conclusion:

The Internet Will Soon Be The Largest Advertising Medium in the U.S.