MEDIA FRAGMENTATION

MEDIA FRAGMENTATION

SYNOPSIS
With technology embarking into the world of advertisements, advertising would never run short of options. Well think again, with the advent of technology comes along the comfort. Comfort for the consumers, comfort of multiple choices, choices in terms of choosing the media. Since decades newspapers has been the main source of entertainment and information for the masses and also the main platform of advertising. Past two decades were ruled by the television. Recent trend has been changing which has given rise to what we call today as ‘MEDIA FRAGMENTATION’. Media fragmentation is essentially a trend in which there is an increasing choice and consumption of a range of media like the television, radio, newspapers, magazines, internet, mobile phones etc. It is the level of difficulty in the reaching the target audience.
Television was by far the most effective way of advertising. However, DTH and DISH TV is changing the way people will view television. This new technology allows a viewer to record his/her favorite t.v. program. This gives the viewer a choice and a command over the television advertisements. Radio has been replaced by mp3 players and mp3 enabled cell phones. The increasing use of internet is just like a coin with two contradicting faces. While on one side it is the most novel way of communication and information, on the other hand it has also left many other traditional models of communication redundant. The best example is the use of e-papers. A reader can select and read the news of his choice without changing the page of the newspaper. This makes advertising a mere filler.
“Necessity is the mother of all inventions”. This line suits best for the current scenario of advertising. The necessity to innovate advertisements has led to many new ideas and tricks in advertising. Since television has lost its luster in advertising, we have in-film or covert advertising. So what if viewers skip the ads using dish-tv, they cant ignore the promotion and placement of a product or a brand in their favorite tv show or movies. How can they avoid watching their favorite stars using a particular brand? Newspaper companies also have not ignored their problems. Newspapers are making great strides in color capabilities in order to improve the reading experience and the advertisers’ message. Search engine and interactive tv are the future of advertising which will pave the way for the new age advertising. Moreover advertisements which can bring a surprise can create an image in the consumer’s mind. The most least expected advertisements or promotions appeals the most. Since the traditional advertising had become too predictable and obvious, it created a miniscule difference for the product being advertised.
Every cloud has a silver lining. The media fragmentation is a dark cloud however with many silver linings