Discussion

By HARVEY LEVENSON on Nov 21, 2024

Once again, Frank’s trip down “memory lane” struck a chord with me.

I’ve lived through the transition from radio to TV, to broadcast TV, to cable TV, to multi-screen movie theaters, to the Internet and World Wide Web, and now to streaming services.

ADVERTISING AND MEDIA
Advertising revenue has been a printing industry issue since the advent of media. It took creative minds to know how to transition advertising from one medium to the next over generations, decades, and centuries. It seems that the printing industry has always been a few steps behind and was playing catch-up to redeem advertising revenue when a new medium came onboard, and took revenue away from print. Radio took from print, broadcast TV took from radio, cable TV took from broadcast, and so on.

CABLE TV
When commercial cable TV first developed, I was in the forefront of that technology; it was the topic of my Ph. D. dissertation at the University of Pittsburgh. I was studying the impact that microwave relays and satellite transmission could have on communication and the printing industry. In fact, I helped the City of Pittsburgh write the RFP for what would be the most advanced cable television system of the time, and the first one interactive. The competitive and lucrative 15-year exclusive franchise was awarded to Warner Cable. Warner offered interactive programming via its CUBE system and Community Communication involving five cable TV studios throughout Pittsburgh for free use by citizens to do their own programming. The promise of cable TV was that if people paid a monthly premium, they would never have to deal with advertising.

Both the Community Communication concept and the concept of no advertising on TV were short lived, when the printing industry thought that this new technology, cable television, would not impact print advertising. And, the Community Communication concept was not popular. It was expensive for the cable companies and very few people used it. When used, there were very few viewers.

THE ADVERTISERS WON
Eventually, advertisers resisted no advertising on cable TV, and the cable providers complied. The viewers had the choice; either continue to pay monthly subscription fees or have no cable TV at all. The advent of specialized cable TV programming, such as movies, sports, and related services also included ads while costing viewers yet additional monthly fees. Again, the printing industry started losing advertising revenue and was again playing catch-up. Today, streaming services, with the likelihood of someday replacing cable TV, also includes ads while further increasing monthly costs for viewers.

Unfortunately, there were no creative ways developed by the printing industry to redeem some of that lost revenue that flowed into competing media. Further, the Internet, when first developed, was not seen as a source for advertising. This was also short lived and is growing. For example, as Frank pointed out, political ads asking for money seem to increase during each election cycle.

NEED FOR NEW THINKING
I agree with Frank that there is a need for new areas of print that will be supported by advertising. However, a need does not provide a solution. I recommend that the major printing industry associations develop task forces and committees that focus solely on this issue.