The advertising industry and the business press developed a "narrative" about advertising 10 years ago. The narrative was that the Internet was going to "change everything."
This narrative colors everything you read about advertising, marketing, and media. The "experts" consciously or subconsciously curate the facts to select only the ones that bolster their narrative.
Think we're overstating the case?
If so, explain why you've never seen or heard any of these facts:
- Over 95% of all video viewing is done on a television. Less than 5% is done on a web device. (Nielsen Total Audience Report, Q3, 2015)
- The rate of engagement among a brand's fans with a Facebook post is 7 in ten thousand. On Twitter it's less than 4 in ten thousand. (Forrester Research)
- Fewer than one person in a thousand clicks on a standard banner ad. (DoubleClick)
- E-commerce accounts for 6.8% of retail sales in the U.S. (US Dept of Commerce, Q3, 2015)
- Over half the online display ads paid for by marketers are unviewable. (Wall Street Journal)
- Fewer than 2% of retail transactions happen on a smart phone. (US Dept of Commerce and Internet Retailer)
- Only 38% of traffic on the web is human. (CNET)
- One "bot-net" can generate 1 billion (yes, with a b) fraudulent online ad impressions a day. Nobody knows how many "bot-nets" there are. (Yahoo)
- Half of all U.S online advertising dollars may be lost to fraud. (Adweek)
- Americans spend more time watching TV than all other leisure activities combined. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) More about the "death of television" in our next newsletter.
The literature and the narrative of the advertising and marketing industry have been hijacked by...
a) people with an agenda
b) people who do not know the facts
c) people who are afraid to contradict the prevailing plot line
And one more thing. According to
Solve Media
, you are more likely to complete Navy Seal training than click on a banner ad.
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