Digital Media At The 'Tipping Point'

An announcement earlier this week by U.K.-based Aegis Group that digital media penetration is accelerating and is poised to reach a critical mass caught some industry observers by surprise, but the pronouncement was actually part of a long-term tracking study being used by the conglomerate to manage its own business development plans, as well as those of its clients. Actually, the study, "Digital At The Tipping Point," projects that 50 percent of all media will be digital by 2007, but that the penetration curve would accelerate beyond that, becoming two-thirds of all media by 2010 and 80 percent of all media by 2020.

That's an impressive statistic given the pervasive base of analog media, including well-established, non-electronic media such as newspapers, magazines, and outdoor media outlets, as well as direct mail, which currently represent nearly half of all ad spending. But even those media are becoming digitally modified, and new digital media platforms are constantly coming on stream such as wireless communications devices, that have accelerated the curve, Sarah Fay, president of Aegis' Carat Interactive division, tells MediaDailyNews.

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"If you think about it, 50 percent of television is already digital, radio is becoming digital and even billboards are becoming digital," says Fay. In fact, digital satellite radio is one of the fastest growing segments of new media, and even traditional radio broadcasters such as Clear Channel Communications have unveiled plans to begin digital radio broadcasting. As for outdoor media like billboards, Fay says they are gradually being retrofitted or integrated with technologies that make them moving, digital and interactive.

"We've just launched the biggest billboard in history for Coke, and we don't even call it a billboard. We call it an outdoor portal, because of all its digital capabilities," says Fay, referring to Coca-Cola Co.'s new Times Square spectacular, which was developed by Aegis Posterscope division.

Fay, whose unit is at the cornerstone of Aegis digital initiative, which itself has been integrated into a new worldwide digital media arm called Isobar, says that even print media such as newspapers and magazines have either migrated to the Web, or are launching digital editions that include hyperlinks or keyword search capabilities that make them digital and interactive, and perhaps most importantly, enable them to have an information backchannel for collecting information from consumers.

"If a medium is not digital itself, the campaigns they run are becoming things that drives people to the Web. What we're really talking about is digital accountability," explains Fay.

But the big development she says, and the thing that is accelerating Aegis digital media growth projections, is the rapid acceleration of wireless media technologies, including cell phones and PDAs, but also the next generation of devices that will increasingly be able to convey digital media content and advertising to consumers anywhere and at anytime.

"The implications for media planning are huge," she says.

Percentage Of Media That Will Be Digital


2007: 50%
2010: 66%
2020: 80%

Source: Aegis Group's "Digital At The Tipping Point."
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