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I was never much for school. (Those who know me are rolling out of their chairs this moment at the enormity of that understatement.) Every so often I hear something that I probably should have learned all those years ago. And so it was after my post railing about ABC's decision to incorporate ads that cannot be skipped in popular shows soon to be released online.
An agency insider, henceforth to be known as Bigwig X, went on a rant about how this whole story is nothing new. That for more than a century media companies, advertising agencies and, of course, advertisers have been trying to shoehorn old business models onto new technology. The similarities were striking.
Do I regret hanging out at the 'Berg instead of attending class. Yeah, right. But there may be something to be said for this history stuff.
[By Bigwig X]
Earlier this week Todd talked about ABC's announcement that it will be putting its hit shows online. He criticized ABC for "still talking about turning computers into TV sets, and not even as consumer friendly as the TVs most people have already."
He's right – but this isn't the first time the advertising industry has tried to make a new medium fit the old rules. We saw it again and again as the Internet was slowly making in roads into the advertising landscape.
Anyone remember @Home, that meteoric failure by TCI and Hearst Publishing? Or how about FreePC, the service that gave you a computer in exchange for watching ads? Anyone? Anyone?
But, this is a mistake advertisers, agencies and especially media companies have been making since the invention of the mass market at the turn of the 20th century.
The advent of radio is a great example of applying old rules to a new medium. In the 1922 AT&T, which owned the technology, thought radio should work just like their telephones – except instead of making a one-to-one call, the call would be broadcast openly across the airwaves.
They even went so far as to build "radiophone booths" that would allow anyone to walk in, pay their fees and broadcast their message to the world (or whoever was tuned in to the station at the time).
But Ma Bell wanted us to know she was keeping our interests in mind, as an article announcing the service made clear:
The only direct interest the telephone company officials will have in the radiophone programs to be broadcasted nightly or daily will be to see to it that these programs are kept up to a certain high class, and that they do not deteriorate to a lot of clap-trap advertising propaganda, such as "Don't buy any other shirts but Jones' shirts; Jones' shirts are the best that money can buy; don't forget Jones when you buy shirts; bla-bla-bla-bla." ad lib, ad infinitum.
Obviously, trying to apply the old rules of the telephone to the new medium of radio didn't take advantage of the mediums inherent benefits. And unfortunately that's what most of today's media companies and advertising agencies are trying to do again.
Announcements such as ABC's ignore the inherent benefits of the Internet – customization, control, limitless choices – and trying to turn it into something they already know.
It's not going to work any better now than it did in 1922.
And besides, does anyone really believe that if you force me to sit through a commercial while watching one of these shows online that I'll really pay attention to it? Nope, I'll be checking my email, having an IM conversation and paying my bills online. Because that's how I use my broadband connection and any advertiser trying to get my attention has to understand that.
