There has also been a major shift in attitude towards the media as the list below shows: Enjoyment of TV ads - declined Expectation of TV to keep people informed Relaxation in front of TV - in decline Increased cash spent on TV - average annual spend on media is X239 per person TV takes over half adult media spend Internet spend is still relatively small A number of critical factors emerge from this: • Fragmentation of audiences - more media • Explosion in number and type of opportunities of new media • Mergers amongst media owners are prevalent.
• Consolidation of agency groups/media buyers • Increasingly hard to analyse media success across the large variety of media • Direct response and electronic measurement are increasing The impact on marketers is that they need to understand the dynamics of all available media and generate communication strategies that, cost-effectively, hit the segmented target. No one agency is currently capable of achieving this. 29 The dot.com Impact in Today's External Environment The dot.com environment changes every day and by the time this book is published any information or statistics I attempt to quote will be out of date. What won't change is the impact that the Internet is having on the way in which business operates. As Laura Mazur, one of the UK's most respected marketing journalists, said in 1998: "Build on an idea as quickly as possible, growth is more important than profitability, speed is more important than stability. Go for it or get left behind."