June 18, 2014

Online Usage Has Dropped 7 Times Faster Than TV


I'm getting a little tired of doing the TV industry's work for it.

Over in the UK they have Thinkbox which seems to do a very nice job of representing the TV industry's interests with relevant material like this.

Over here, the TV industry seems to be DOA and very happy to have online advertising eat its lunch.

Which brings us to today's sermon.

A few weeks ago I wrote that online usage was dropping at twice the rate of TV.  Numbers I've seen since then seem to indicate it's dropping much faster than that.

As usual, the advertising and marketing industries have it all backwards. And also, as usual, the trade press doesn't have a clue.

You've no doubt been reading all the bullshit about how the rise of mobile devices is killing traditional media like TV and radio. It's not. The medium that is suffering badly from the rise of mobile is its cousin, traditional online.

According to latest Nielsen's Cross-Platform Report, since 2011 when the use of mobile devices started to explode, internet usage on traditional devices has dropped almost 5% (from 64 to 61 minutes/week.)

Radio usage has dropped about 4% (from 173 to 166 minutes/week.)

TV usage has dropped less than 1% (from 306 to 304 minutes/week.)

You'd never know this if you listened to the bullshit you hear from agencies or the dreck you read in the trade press. They're still on the "TV is dead" nonsense they invented 10 years ago.

The result is that agency buyers will continue to shift money to mobile from TV, instead of from online.

And the clueless TV industry seems blissfully satisfied to let it all happen.

5 comments:

Note a Math Genius said...

This post proves that numbers can tell whatever story you want. In percentage terms, online has an easier chance to grow or decline faster since its base is much smaller (64 minutes for online vs. 306 minutes for TV). In absolute numbers, TV lost 2 minutes as online decreased by 3 minutes (kudos to Bob for being transparent and posting the actual numbers) while radio lost 7 minutes. So should we be sounding the death knell for radio although it decreased less than online?


And what is the growth for mobile?

Charlotte said...

Could
it be the TV industry isn’t clueless, but sitting back and watching the online
implosion?

Cecil B. DeMille said...

Numbers lie. Math doesn't. Even so, the trouble with the online vs TV argument is that they are not, nor ever shall they be, apples and apples. The fact that online increases or declines is a minuscule speck on the ass of television.


TV builds brands because whether it annoys you or not, you watch it (for the most part). It jumps in front of you in a way you expect. No online ad has ever been as welcome. When one jumps in front of you, be honest. It pisses you off and you think, "I'm going to remember this unwelcome intrusion, Ford/Velveeta/Old Spice."


And at least the fucking TV ad is watching you, writing down all the shit you watch, and reporting it back to its masters. That's why online will continue to be distrusted, disliked, and dismissed.

Eccles9 said...

'Traditional online'? There's a phrase that sits in the old brain pan like 'jumbo shrimp' or 'military intelligence'...

andy said...

I'm normally an AdC disciple - but for once I don't buy your argument.

Rather than a drop in online usage I would have said it was a shift in online usage.

By what percentage did Mobile increase over the same period?

The device used to access the web is irrelevant - there are still ads on Mobile/iPad.

I think you'll find online usage hasn't dropped at all - it has most likely increased - it's just the way that people are accessing it that has changed.