Z.E.R.O.

The New Media Landscape

Cataclysmic change and fragmentation have restructured the media landscape. In the mid-90s, the United States had 28 television channels; by 2014, it had more than 250. The “perfect storm” disrupting the broadcast industry includes big networks’ resistance to change; more consumers leaving cable to pick and choose what to watch online; and the advent of Internet channels like YouTube, where viewers benefit as users upload 72 hours of new video content per minute. Joe Tripodi, CMO for Coca-Cola, estimates that most YouTube views involve consumer-created content.

Advertising and marketing, based for so long on reliable formulations, now stand on shifting sands. Agencies once found it daring to add Facebook to their television-marketing mix, but “Facebook is the new TV.” Professional promoters must forge a new normal. They must suggest bold, untested strategies to corporate clients who still cling to their old comfort zones. New strategies, like launching products only on digital media, don’t always succeed and few clients want to pay while you learn from your mistakes. Yet, even though corporate clients move slowly, they remain impatient for quick...