I was always skeptical regarding  “end of the 30 sec TV spot” and “TV is dead” proclamations.  Recent history has shown that rarely is one medium discarded in favor of another.  What’s happening instead is a transformation of media usage driven by the acceleration of innovation in technology. Less broadcast, more cable with online video viewing surging…and newspapers adapting to the realities of a connected consumer.

According to Nielsen’s latest media consumption study:

 Nielsen announced the results of a second annual media consumption survey that found television and Internet usage continues to increase — even though broadcast ratings have declined.

And…

 ”Americans keep finding more time to spend with the three screens,” said Susan Whiting, vice chairperson for The Nielsen Company.  “TV use is at an all-time high, yet people are also using the Internet more often – 31% of which is happening simultaneously.”

Link to article is here.

(Hat tip: James Hibberd’s the Live Feed)

Murdoch gets how the Internet is transforming the news and newspapers.  Audio of lecture here.

Money quote:

Unlike the doom and gloomers, I believe that newspapers will reach new heights. In the 21st century, people are hungrier for information than ever before. And they have more sources of information than ever before. Amid these many diverse and competing voices, readers want what they’ve always wanted: a source they can trust. That has always been the role of great newspapers in the past. And that role will make newspapers great in the future.

If you discuss the future with newspapermen, you will find that too many think that our business is only physical newspapers. I like the look and feel of newsprint as much as anyone. But our real business isn’t printing on dead trees. It’s giving our readers great journalism and great judgment. It’s true that in the coming decades, the printed versions of some newspapers will lose circulation. But if papers provide readers with news they can trust, we’ll see gains in circulation—on our web pages, through our RSS feeds, in emails delivering customized news and advertising, to mobile phones. In short, we are moving from news papers to news brands.

The challenge is to use a newspaper’s brand while allowing readers to personalise the news for themselves—and then deliver it in the ways that they want. This is what we are now trying to do at The Wall Street Journal. The journal has the advantage of having a very loyal readership … a brand known for quality … and editors who take the readers and their interest seriously. This helps explain why the journal continues to defy industry trends. Of the ten largest papers in the United States, the journal is the only one to have grown its paid subscriptions last year. At the same time, we intend to make our mark on the digital frontier. The journal is already the only US. newspaper that makes real money online. One reason for this is a growing global demand for business news and for accurate news. Integrity is not just a characteristic of our company, it is a selling point. One way we are planning to take advantage of online opportunities is by offering three tiers of content. The first will be the news that we put online for free. The second will be available for those who subscribe to wsj.com. And the third will be a premium service, designed to give its customers the ability to customize high-end financial news and analysis from around the world.

Transformative.  This could be the word of the decade. No doubt, this election has been transformative, no matter what happens tomorrow. The tectonic shift in the worlds of news, media and marketing has been accelerated by the 2008 election. And the global financial crisis shifts it into 6th gear.

Although we hear newspapers are in a death spiral, or proclamations on the death of the 30 second TV spot,  what is happening is more subtle.  In the post 2004 web there is a convergence of  user friendly, collaborative web technology coupled with the rise of a generation known as “Millenials” or “digital natives”, where instant messaging, myspace, facebook, twitter and smart phones are the standard and email is old fashioned. It is a world of creating, gathering and sharing information and ideas, from anywhere and everywhere.

Far from breathing it’s last gasp, traditional media will shift into support mode.  People will always be sniffing out remarkable content, and much of it is still on broadcast TV and cable  — SNL, Mad Men, HBO, CNN — and then sharing it on the web.  The collaborative and convenient nature of digital media is empowering consumers  to create, share and comment at will.  Consumers have now become an integral part of the process in news, media and marketing.  They really can decide what to watch, read or listen to and when.  And they now have a real voice, positive and negative, thanks to the user friendly, 24/7 Internet.  The election has helped Web 2.0 sites like Reddit.com and Huffingtonpost.com build traffic on par with, or higher, than the pioneering Drudge Report (see chart).  Reddit is  a social news site where members vote, up or down, on whether content is intriguing or not while the Drudge Report is still one man’s opinion on what is news.  Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0.

— A good article on Web 2.0 and the election in the NY Times. Click here.