As days, months, years go by, it never ceases to amaze me how many people are unable to change with the times. I was talking with a representative at an advertising group and he started saying, “With a captive audience…”  Well I stopped him right there, and here is why…

Within the place-based media arena, we used to sell the idea of a captive audience. Television viewers at home became fewer and fewer as a percentage, as they were spending more time out of the home. And with the advent of cable, viewers were spread thinner across more stations. Then, with TiVo, they could skip commercials altogether. That’s what made the idea of “place-based” media networks so compelling to advertisers – because a network could deliver a captive audience such as at a doctor’s office or auto repair facility, etc.

But now, with the worldwide expansion of smart phones, there is no captive audience. That handheld device competes with all other screens for attention. So your content better be that much more compelling to engage the viewer. And you can’t fake it because third party surveyors such as Arbitron and Nielsen go out and measure recall. Now if the recall is there, then the audience was engaged and you have a motivated consumer. This not only benefits the venue, but also allows for advertisers to reach their target market.