Is the Increasing Influence of the Internet a Problem for the Traditional Media - Essay Example

Is the increasing influence of the internet a problem for the traditional media and their consumers? Discuss at least two of the possible issues involved and potential solutions. Introduction: Online media is growing at a rapid rate over the past few years. Internet has infiltrated almost every aspect of life, making it a necessity rather than a luxury. Though Internet has a wide variety of applications and uses in our day to day life, it is important to notice the effects it has had on other traditional media, such as television, radio, newspapers and magazines, etc.., In a survey conducted by International Business Machines (IBM), it has been reported that over 60 percent of the people surveyed used Internet for personal purposes for an average of 6 to 7 hours compared to only 3 to 4 hours of television viewing (Helm, 2007). It is clear that the traditional media are facing a decline in their usage and are heading towards their fall. Hence it is essential to identify the problems and solve them before they are completely neglected by the consumers. Increasing Influence of Internet: Unlike the traditional media the internet has provided audience with a very different approach in a variety of fields. It has combined one or more of the traditional media and provides the end user with more than just information. Along with being personalised and interactive, the Internet has facilitated a variety of things likes it provides information, advertisements, entertainment, shopping, news, social interaction and also acts as a mode of communication. The cost of transmitting any information through traditional media is very high when compared to the internet. Also the coverage of traditional media audience is comparatively much lower based on demographics. The exposure of traditional media can be limited in some cases however internet is easily available at almost every environment, like home, office, outdoors – via mobile, etc., thus making it more flexible and user friendly (Martin and Leckenby, 2008). It is evident that the traditional media is now facing a heavy decline due to these issues, some of which are discussed in the following section. Traditional Media - Issues: The issues faced by the traditional media due to the increased usage of Internet are enormous. Television media, as stated earlier has already begun its decline as more and more consumers ‘switch- off’ leading to networks spending lesser on creating contents. This has, in turn, resulted in less quality shows to be broadcast, which has made more consumers to ‘switch- off’. Thus this is cyclical, resulting in slow loss of consumers to no audience at all (Riley, 2008). The other traditional media which have been affected are the newspapers and magazines. The newspaper companies, for instance, have to work up the whole night to provide information to the audience early the next morning. However consumers tend to use the Internet to get the latest news as it is updated with information almost immediately after any incident has occurred. This has led to the news printed in the dailys as stale or old (Keller, 2008). Newspapers believe in moving with the times, thus making it possible for them to survive in the markets at least for a good 10-20 years. One of the biggest reasons that newspapers will survive for a longer period of time when compared to television is for the fact of the quality journalism. A lot of the newspapers have started off online versions of the print (Riley, 2008) and reports show that the online versions of the newspapers have been well received since 2006. It has been traced that almost 39 percent of the active web users, visit newspaper websites for an average of 44 minutes a month. (Sigmund, 2008). From the above discussions, it is clear that the major effects of the increasing influence of the Internet have been felt by the television media rather than the newspapers and magazines. Hence it is essential to implement strategies to counter the indirect competition from the Internet. These solutions are discussed in detail in the following section. Solution to the Issue: There are many strategies that can be adapted by the networks to recover from the decline in the viewership. The most important aspect to be considered is the quality of the programs broadcasted on television. When this quality is increased, the television viewership will stop declining from the current level, thus terminating the ‘cyclical’ effect discussed earlier. The other major aspect is to increase the interactivity in the television media. This has been implemented but currently this is in no way close to the degree of interactivity provided by the Internet. For instance, in the business world, online portal (www.MeetTheBoss.tv) has been launched which has brought a new perspective to the networking of the CEOs and CIOs and the like of various leading organizations. However, the website reports that though there is heavy networking and activity in this portal, it has been very difficult to make the members stay for a live broadcast, as it takes up an hour’s time (MeetTheBoss, 2008). The main reason behind this is that the Internet is a ‘Lean-In’ medium where the users are on the edge of their seats scanning through information. Hence the live broadcasts have been a failure except for those who do not have access to a television. The television, on the other hand is a ‘Lean-back’ medium, where the consumers tend to watch the programs in a more relaxed manner. This advantage can be exploited by targeting the viewers with quality content and an element of interactivity included in the creations. Another main merit to be exploited is the ‘consumers’ trust’ on the information provided via the television media. In the Internet, anybody can start a blog and write articles about the latest turn of events. However, the consumers tend to search and read from various sources in the Internet before fully trusting the information. The television media can provide exhaustive reports on latest events and can promote the videos using the Internet media to urge them to switch on their televisions to view the reports. Thus these strategies can be implemented to overcome the influence of the Internet and reduce the decline of television viewership. Conclusion: Thus this essay has discussed about the increasing influence of Internet and its effects on traditional media. These issues were discussed and the major issue identified was the decline in television viewership. The possible strategies for the television media to successfully recover were reviewed. Thus, this essay emphasizes on the decline in the usage of the traditional media and calls for immediate strategies to be implemented to recover from this fall caused by the increased influence of the Internet. References Helm, C., 2007, ‘IBM consumer Survey shows decline of TV as primary media device’, Accessed on 28 August 2008, Retrieved from http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/22206.wss Keller, B., 2008, ‘Traditional Media: Problem’, 14 July 2008, Accessed on 28 August 2008, Retrieved from http://traditional-media.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-is-10-problem.html Martin, W. and Leckenby, J. D., 2008, ‘New Media Development: The Internet vs. Traditional Media’, Accessed on 28 August 2008, Retrieved from http://www.ciadvertising.org/studies/reports/presentation/AAA_mediacomparison3/sld001.htm MeetTheBoss, 2008, Accessed on 29 August 2008, Retrieved from http://www.MeetTheBoss.Tv Riley, D., 2008, ‘Television will be the first media medium to fall’, 24 July 2008, Accessed on 28 August 2008, Retrieved from http://www.inquisitr.com/1917/television-will-fall/ Sigmund, J., 2008, ‘Online Newspaper Viewership reaches record in 2007’, 24 January 2008, Accessed on 28 August 2008, Retrieved from http://www.naa.org/PressCenter/SearchPressReleases/2008/Online-Newspaper-Viewership.aspx Read More