The internet has totally disrupted the advertising industry. Two decades ago, billboards, newspaper, radio and television advertising were all major forces on Madison avenue. Now that’s all been turned on it’s head.
Television advertising has been disrupted by the DVR, which allows users to skip over commercials and set top boxes which offer a variety of ways to watch your favorite programs, sometimes without commercials, sometimes with the service providers commercials. When you watch your favorite show on Hulu for example, you miss the commercials that your local tv station and the network ran when the program originally aired.
Newspaper advertising has been on the decline as many newspapers have scaled back production, and several have even shut down. People want their news now. The 24 hours news cycle, is gone, in it’s place, instantaneous news you can get from the web and social media. As less and less people turn to the web over the newspaper, that’s less eye balls for advertisers.
Radio has been disrupted by Spotify, Rdio, Pandora, Slacker, and even iTunes. People can listen to their favorite music without commercials now, and on demand. Apps like TuneIn and iHeartRadio cannibalize the local radio stations ad revenue by offering their own in app advertising.
Billboards have never been as effective as some may want to think they were, but nowadays there are so many other distractions on the road that unless it’s a traffic sign, most people are missing the message.
Business Insider reported on Tuesday about a new partnership between high end mobile audio company Harman’s Aha Radio and Placecase that’s essentially delivering geo-fenced advertisements right to the car.
Harman’s Aha app will deliver advertising to a car’s radio and touchscreen based on their location. Quiznos subs is participating in a beta test of the program which some people are calling the future of advertising. With Placecast, and Aha, when a car gets within a certain proximity to their local Quiznos an advertisement and special offer can be sent to the vehicle letting them know not only about Quiznos but what the special deal is.
But, Placecast is quick to not call this advertising. “Audio is a great way to embed a brand message,” Alistair Goodman, chief executive of Placecast told the New York Times. “And when you tailor an offer to a place nearby, it’s seen as a value service, not as advertising.”
