MediaPost: Digital Media At The 'Tipping Point'

The recent Aegis financial report that dropped the interesting statistic that it predicted half of all media to be digital by 2007 turns out to have referred to an internal study that counts a great deal of media consumers consider non-digital as digital. Media like television and even outdoor advertising are being painted with the digital brush, merely for having digital distribution networks. Even though TV hasn't changed a great deal, Sarah Fay, president of Aegis' Carat Interactive division told MediaPost that a full half of TV should be considered "digital" because of the plumbing through which it appears in front of viewers. By these criteria, 80 percent of media will be "digital" by 2020, according to Aegis.

Of course that sort of digital doesn't necessarily change the way agencies and advertisers have to work. In fact, it may prove comforting to large agency structures to consider that they might not have to adapt much at all to the new digital environment. Viewers certainly haven't had much cause to notice a difference in this sort of digital change.

The digital distribution of media may indeed make it easier for companies to create interactive media out of the traditional broadcast assets, but only a small portion are doing so currently.

Meanwhile, most people's definition of digital media - interactive media such as that seen online - continues steady share growth, currently at about 3.5 percent of marketing budgets.