By: Erik Hauser

 It’s been some time since we’ve been hearing about the impending death of the 30 second spot, and the death of TV.

You may want to keep your black suits and dresses in your closets for now. We, in America, have a culture built around a box - like it or not. What was once just a large box thankfully now comes in sizes as thin as envelopes for our viewing pleasure. Either way it’s deeply embedded in our DNA, and we all consume it at our leisure - except for the no TV households. Yes they do exist - I lived in San Francisco for a long time.:) Anyway…..The notion that the TV will be departing this earth anytime soon is just plain silly. But there is a death coming.

It’s not the TV dying, but the broadcast model that has filled our TV’s with content since it’s inception. So, as the networks business models die - the TV remains strong. What content or who delivers that content to the TV is what is going to be in question - that’s where the battlefield is that will yield the deaths.

You see, the TV has essentially been relegated to one of the many delivery mechanisms of content that consumers now use for media consumption. When and how we consume that content is solely up to us at this point. This is where the current network model dies and begins to flatline. Their model can’t adapt to this type of behavior.

They thought they had the quick fix - reality TV. AHHH..lower the production costs and lower the bottom line. Sadly, that trend lasted longer than it should have. I leave my social commentary out of that one, but it was really just a band-aid on a bullet-hole. The networks slow moving ways aren’t too far different than the recording industry’s slow reaction to digital downloads.

Goodness, where are all the bright minds that are consulting with the heads of these multi-billion dollar institutions to inform them what the media consumption trend line will look like as dependent upon the proliferation of certain technology?\

How could both industries that kept this country entertained for ions both miss it? It’s mind boggling. I guess they just thought that it couldn’t happen to them - it’s the only thing that seems to make sense.

Without question both of these situations will be taught in business schools for hundreds of years to come. Complacency is the death of everything. The term too big to fail has taken on new meaning in the last couple of years, but it’s also in play here. DId the companies just think that they had a monopoly and that they’d go on forever. How much is a monopoly worth if nobody is watching, or if the company is no longer in control of the consumption equation? There will absolutely be content in various forms being delivered to large screens for much longer than I’ll be on the earth. I’m even sure at some point some folks will try to rename the TV. It’s not TV anymore it’s __________ . That is of course if it hasn’t happened already.

As for the funeral of the 30 second spot. It may be moving off of the networks, but 30 seconds of compelling content can live nicely on any platform. So, in the end, the 30 second spot lives on. Go figure:) It will be interesting to see if the TV networks and pull out of the same death spiral that sunk the record industry. Either way I’ll be watching it on TV.:)