Understanding the impact of a fragmenting audience
Posted: Friday 13 June, 2008
Philip Keightley
Breaking news - I have been to the pub this week. Not just because the boss is away, the sun has been shining and it's Euro 2008, but to catch up with some old friends. Aside from the usual japes and tomfoolery, as we have not caught up for a while, we found ourselves discussing the latest developments in our respective employment - and as the spotlight focussed on yours truly, the discourse gravitated to include the role of the press and media in modern society.
It was heartening to hear that such a close circle of friends was home to such a wide vareity of views and opinions, some predictable and some quite staggeringly left field. What I found of particular interest however (given my role in public relations - and daily media communication), was that very few had any understanding of national press circulations and the level to which circulations have declined over the last decade or so. Of course, all were aware that increasing numbers of folk, and particularly the younger demographic, access their news through a variety of sources (if they access "news" at all!) - and particularly online. It is interesting to ponder how far circulations will continue to fall and what sort of future print journalism has at all (For one, I believe it certainly does have a future, but with an increasingly niche audience).
We concluded that society today is obsessed with demanding and being offered choice - as if it were the first clause of our unwritten, but demographic constitution. Wearing my Digital PR hat, I have been witness to the manifestation of this sociological trend and it's impact in the digital media sector. Allied to the vast and rapid technological and digital advancements in the media world, audiences now have the choice to consume media whenever, however and wherever they choose. Understandably, this is a boon for society, but it causes a number of issues if you are a media publisher or advertiser trying to target a certain demographic. Audience fragmentation has had a dramatic impact on national press circulations as readers jilt their newspapers for glitz and glamour of the digital world and all the choice it offers. Now, the digital world is also suffering from major fragmention, as users visit more sites than ever before and are increasingly difficult to target. The answer for many of the leading US and European publishers has been to launch vertical advertising networks (through Adify) in the "long tail" of the internet - forming target groups based on specific interests and brand alignment, and offering advertisers the opportunity to reach an otherwise disparate and fragmented audience.
I was fortuntate this week to have met with Russ Fradin, CEO of Adify - a quite staggeringly learned fellow when it comes to anything with a digital pulse, who was able to confirm to me the sheer number of major media names who are now building vertical ad networks with Adify technology. All I can say for now is watch this space - there are going to be a lot of announcements on their way!
