Brian Wieser, an analyst with the Pivotal Research Group who was once the top advertising forecaster for the Interpublic Group of Companies (says) “The durability of television,” despite its flaws, stems from something “most observers forget,” Mr. Wieser said, that “advertising on television satisfies most large marketers’ goals better than alternatives, and its advantages hold as more consumers watch more TV more often than any other medium.”
“Advertisers use television because they need to make everyone aware of the differences in brand attributes” between their products and those sold by competitors, Mr. Wieser said. “And as long as TV is viewed as the primary driver of brand awareness, TV will grow its revenue base.”
And grow it has. According to Nielsen, television ad revenue in the United States last year totaled $71.8 billion, up 5 percent from 2010. It was larger than for any other medium and was perhaps the first time the figure has topped $70 billion.
“As long as you have advertisers in these oligopolistic categories, operating on a national scale and looking to drive awareness for massive audiences, TV keeps growing,” Mr. Wieser said. “The growth of the Web will come mostly at the expense of print.”
Read more in the New York Times.
