Categories: Articles

Life During The 30-Second Spot

The TV industry is about to go through some very dramatic changes. Yes, people have been saying that the Internet, Social Media and other new media channels would spell their doom, but few probably imagined that the current economy would really push that agenda forward.

"Revenue in the television industry will take a dramatic fall below the $20 billion mark starting this year, according to BIA Advisory Services. After six years with industry revenue hovering between $20 billion and $22 billion, 2009 is expected to end at an even $17 billion in revenues, a 21.2% drop in two years from 2007’s $21.5 billion, BIA says."

That was the news yesterday over at MediaBuyerPlanner in the item, TV Revs to Decline 21% in Two Years; ‘Transformation’ TV’s Only Hope: BIA. According to the BIA report, Investing In Television Market Report 2009, there will be a slight increase in revenue in 2010 (+0.6%), but 2011 might experience a slip back into the negatives again. That same report is expecting to see a return back to positive revenue streams in 2012. What’s even more interesting is the expectation of a 1.1 billion dollar increase in ad revenue that will come from mobile video programming – yep, content on your mobile device.

What is going to save the 30-second spot?

“Since 2003 TV revenues have held steady but are now beginning a dramatic downward shift. This corroborates our calls for transformation as the only path to expansion for the industry. This will come from cross-platform growth and real energies put into finding local advertising revenues available through mobile and online advertising,ï¿½? said Mark R. Fratrik, Ph.D., Vice President, BIA Advisory Services.

This is going to be a huge challenge.

If the recession really does drop the television industries revenue below 21%, the channels’ abilities to truly innovate and "transform" are going to be dramatically inhibited by other more immediate needs (like replacing the billions lost in advertising while trying to maintain the integrity of their traditional media channel). It is something that the newspaper industry is grappling with in the public eye at this moment.

What is your advice to the TV industry?

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.