The Future of Television is Bright
Flying in the face of common sense and criticism, Les Binet of DDB Matrix has made a declaration, "The future for television advertising looks bright." While I don't really know anything about Les, I assume he's a pretty smart guy, but hopefully his opinion is backed up by more than he put in this slide show.
While the numbers can be questioned based on what study you're looking at, surely we can agree that there are still a shit load of people watching tv. So is it dead? Not so much. Agreed? Good. Les is disputing something that's not really being said (with the exception of few hyperbolic statements here and there). So we can get into what other studies say the decline is, how DVR changed the game, how the xbox and similar trojan horses are affecting viewing habits, how multimedia consumption affects attention, etc., but the bottom line is he missed the point. The argument seems to be that the future looks bright because things aren't changing enough to make up for a declining CPM, which I find questionable at best.
You won't find me advocating for the total removal of television from the marketing mix, but at the same time, now's not the time for us to feel comfortable sitting back on our laurels.
Check out the conversation over at Scamp's place...
(Reading back over the post, it does seem a little harsh. I think I'm getting soft in my old age. Sorry, Les. You're probably smarter than me and make more money, so you win.) :)