Abandonment of trad media by youth signals new ad channels sought

In November last year the Pew Internet & American Life Project reported that fully half of all teens and 57% of teens who use the internet could be considered Content Creators. “They have created a blog or webpage, posted original artwork, photography, stories or videos online or remixed online content into their own new creations.”

The latest Economist Media Survey reports that Paul Saffo, a director at the Institute for the Future in California, says people no longer passively “consume” media (and thus advertising, its main revenue source) but actively participate.

The Ecomist article also quotes David Sifry, the founder of Technorati, a search engine for blogs, one-to-many “lectures” (ie, from media companies to their audiences) are transformed into “conversations” among “the people formerly known as the audience”.

Thoughts: If TV and newspapers have lost their relevance to younger generations, more intent on creating and sharing via blogs and the web, what will become the new dominant advertising channels? Google ads? Word of mouth ceding? Sponsored podcasts or games? Mobile minute incentives? Picking or creating the winning channels in this new electronic tribal world is a significant opportunity. And the fastest growth market in this space has to be CHINDIA’s exploding middle class.

KEY WORDS: Media; Blogs; Generation Y; Advertising; Communications