the web simplified what was complicated into a standard protocol
1993 – Tim Berners-Lee – made access of info available to everyone
mobile now primary access –> what does this mean then for online advertising?
Hyper Text Markup Language
Commercialisation of the internet
advertisers sought to monetise consumers
WIRED magazine – how technology was affecting culture – first web ad for AT&T “Have you ever clicked your mouse right here? You will.”
portals, eg netscape
opportunities for commercialisation of search
online ad banners generate high volumes of interest displayed by high percentages of user click-through rates
Digital industry players
marketers have more choice than ever in terms of where they can advertise and run their marketing messages
digital has exponentially increased choices
advertisers have to sift through and ask: where is the best place to spend my money?
buyers: agencies primary buyers
issue that there is no standard structure for the way advertising is bought and sold
sellers:
pure play = a media company that has no legacy property (eg TV network, newspaper), it is online only, eg Amazon, Yahoo
traditional = eg, print publishers having websites
creatives: more interested in allure of TV than small postage-sized ads online
technology companies – SEO etc
New players and traditional outlets repurposing themselves
How digital complements print media
magazines with apps with additional content in editorial and advertising – can bring print to life – online enhances print
not competing medias but complementing
channel isn’t as important as the content
not tied to physical product anymore
How digital complements broadcast media
TV expensive, so video online may be more feasible
TiVo etc, fast forwarding ads is a major challenge to industry
tablet use in front of TVs offers opportunities for networks to connect with these audiences
TV show shareability over social channels
ads with Shazam embedded at the bottom for us to use over phones while watching TV
Online audience measurement
every medium has an agreed standard audience currency, eg TV ratings and viewershio, radio listenership, print readership and circulation
difficult for online to settle on a particular standard currency
Australia one of the first countries to establish the standard
Nielsen had a couple of different methodologies:
site centric = based around code to measure activity counting browsers as people – challenges because often more than one person uses a computer, and people often use more than one device
based on panel = track activity of panel members – challenge as may under represent
every measuring metric has inherent flaws, the importance is that the industry agrees on a methodology
Nielsen combined both to create UA – Unique Audience
Still not all websites use this system when reporting audience members to agencies/advertisers, may use Google Analytics
Digital jargon
hits = one of the first measurement metrics on the web
outdated and irrelevant
it doesn’t mean visitors but the load on the webpage, ie each element that needs to load (this means nothing to advertisers)
be confident enough to ask what someone means by hits, eg visitors, pageviews, etc
This week’s reading Digital video and Alexandre Astruc’s camera-stylo by Bjørn Sørenssen begins with asking whether “expanded access to digital production means and distribution channels of audiovisual media also imply an enhancement of the democratic potential of these media“. These changes in media production and distribution certainly change the way we think about film: as discussed in the first lecture, film isn’t scarce anymore and this has many implications. We can record on our phones to brainstorm and think through ideas, not necessarily making polished pieces as we may once have considered the use of film. Similarly, a writer can brainstorm on the back of an envelope.
Sørenssen makes an compelling point that it is “always interesting to review old utopian visions, as they remind us of our part in fulfilling or failing to fulfill the expectations of earlier generations“. I found this an amusing sidenote to consider how we have stacked up to Plato’s Republic or whether we will measure up to Star Trek.
Utopia – sourced from michaelromkey.typepad.com
Sørenssen notes Astruc’s thinking that Descartes’ philosophy “would today be of such a kind that only the cinema could express it satisfactorily“. Are there ideas that can only be expressed through certain mediums? Undoubtedly there are times when I am lost for words trying to explain something, maybe it could be better expressed through film. What about the combination of words and image – does film in that way lend itself to better understanding simply due to the combination of factors?
Similarly, how does expression through art come into play? Image sourced aestheticamagazine.com
Sørenssen mentions the personal computer and its importance on how we view content; similarly the mobile phone. What does this mean for content creators and how is it different to imagining creating for a big cinema screen? More personal = more intimacy?
Habermas is quoted within the article lamenting that the “use of the Internet has both broadened and fragmented the contexts of communication”. The Internet recently celebrated 25 years of the web, and in a commemorative article on the Irish Times Davin O’Dwyer notes the Internet ” has revolutionised communication to the point where most people can publish and disseminate information within seconds. This unhindered ability to communicate and disseminate information has also led to powerful citizen-driven movements, such as the Arab Spring in 2010″.
We no longer have to go into an office to work or go to the library to find information. What impact is this having on our culture? And what about implications surrounding our privacy?
Astruc’s “vision of the future author who writes using a camera instead of a pen” certainly opens up new possibilities for expression through audio-visual mediums, however I have to edit this vision for myself as I can’t see a future without written memoirs: that authors write using a camera and a pen.
What is your canvas for expression? Image sourced from guestonplanet.blogspot.com.au
