Excuse Me TV, But I Have the Internet

A few years ago Aflac Insurance came up with the clever idea of providing trivia questions that were used as a lure to keep people watching what ever show one was watching. It was a pretty smart innovation of advertising. The way it worked was simple, at the end of a segment of a show -- typically a news program -- they would ask a trivia question that you would have to wait through the break in order to the see the answer. What was once clever is now irritating. Furthermore, it reminds the audience how TV is declining in importance and is being surpassed by the Internet.

Recently I was watching Kudlow & Company on MSNBC and they tried a similar concept. Just before a station break they announced that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was no longer the most powerful woman in the world any more according to Forbes magazine. They expected me to sit through the break to wait for the answer as to who replaced her. Do you think I waited? With my faithful notebook computer right next to me I had the answer before the first commercial was over. The world's most powerful woman was now Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, according to the list. By the time the break was over I was no longer watching Kudlow and had found my way to other on-demand news and information from the Internet and could care less about the rest of the program (and I'm a huge Kudlow fan!).

Instead of keeping viewers, this form of advertising only made TV seem less relevant and accentuated the importance of the Internet. Smart TV companies are making TV only part of the story. I've done this for years in my radio show. I have a website and during my show I will discuss ten networking tips with an expert on the subject and cover around 5. Instead of rushing to cover all ten I encourage the audience to visit my website for the rest of the list. While they are there, they are still seeing the advertisers of all my media. Smart TV shows will do more of this and less giving away their audience to their biggest competitor -- the Internet.

When it comes to the future of media, the writing is on the wall. The Internet will lead the way and all other media will become a support to that giant.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show on CNN 650 and is Publisher of the Houston Business Review. He is also the Managing Editior of Houston Business Daily. He is an award winning author of several books and is well known as a media consultant. Kevin speaks frequently on business, political, and cultural issues. Read Kevin's blog, Business Plus, at http://www.houstonbusinessdaily.blogger.com. He has a BA in economic history from Abilene Christian University.

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