The media metamorphosis

Google is a media company. And rightly so, for it stands a reminder to the inexorable change being wrought on us by the internet. Its probably a little unfair to say this, but I do believe that I have not come across telco's at least, treating the internet as a medium with the seriousness it deserves. Its probably because we are so used to selling it from a backend technology viewpoint, that the marketing folks are probably missing out on the sheer impact of the net on the media habits of tomorrow. For this, Google is a pointer & its own actions are marked by a company that understands consumer internet consumption habits and is always innovating to envisage viable revenue models from the same. Quite simply and unbeatably brilliant approach that would seem easy to replicate (the principle), and yet, we all shy from the sheer mathematical bloody-minded discipline of it.

One of the new media emerging on the internet front - and here, one must get into probably seeing the internet as a huge channel with the potential for multiple media within its own delivery mechanism - is Podcasting. With its growing influence and investment flowing into this area, this is worth understanding in greater detail for the opportunities it presents.

Not only do new media emerge, but the way advertising takes hold of these media too needs realignment. The new ads on TiVo by Sprint/Coke are testament to the inherent creativity that not only beats the constraints of new technologies ability to screen out ads, but also uses the same technology to convert advertising to entertainment, thus leading to the eventual blurring of it all! But this is indeed really clever, and probably a step in media/creative ad agencies starting to understand and use the power of technology to deliver content that would engage audiences. The whole concept and importance of Content in advertising is addressed brilliantly in this article, which puts cogently some of my own views on the need for a richer understanding of user interactions on the web, to enable effective content models for advertising - new payperpost models and yet undefined models could change the dynamics of advertising completely as IP networks and convergence-devices take hold of consumer timeshare.

Also most companies are actively in setting up transactional websites to effectively monitor and track customer visits & transform intent into revenue opportunities. The field of web analytics and its variants are currently addressing the needs posed by these requirements.

On the same note, while the Internet is a new medium, so are conventional communication lines. For example, the cellphone is also a marketing tool and advertisers are starting to wake up to the need to create content for the cellphone in the form of trailers/Snippets like Omega here with "Flyboys". The same is being replicated for its TV line up by CBS Network Television. I remember this being briefly tried here by Hutch with its Great Indian Comedy show routine, no idea where that brilliant idea vanished... consigned to the bins of non-profitability perhaps, not enough patience to allow the innovators to talk about it and get the early-adopters on board perhaps.