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As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

economist.com

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Re: As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

#61

Post by hogFeast »

citizenpaul wrote: post #47
grae_QED wrote: post #18

Good. I hope they all go out of business. Their predatory practices are the reason why social media is so toxic. I'm honestly amazed that companies haven't figured out that advertisements are far less effective than they claim to be and they are probably over spending on them [1]. [1] https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/research/resear...

> amazed that companies haven't figured out that advertisements are far less effective than they claim to be I was once asked to do some stats on the marketing effectiveness of a company I was at. Not my job but I really hated a couple of the people in the marketing dept so I went at the task anyway. I had long had suspicious that the advertising was mostly smoke and mirrors so I was glad to find out that I was right…

This depends very heavily on the product. With some products, for example food, you have to win your customer back every month. Additionally, it is often very difficult to correlate certain kinds of ads to sales...but if you look at the marketing investment over decades in some industries, it is probably the only source of competitive advantage.

That being said, given that most people here work for tech companies, I do suspect there is huge overinvestment into marketing by tech companies. Some companies just don't do any of this, don't have a sales team, don't have a marketing team...and they do fine. But that isn't universal (for example, sales clearly has an important implementation role in some industries, in some industries sales has an organizational role, etc.).

Re: As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

#62

Post by Animats »

elzbardico wrote: post #31
JadeNB wrote: post #10

I was wondering if even The Economist was so out of touch as to fail to notice that the trend was moving away from lockdowns lifting, but I see that the article is from July 3, when things looked rather different.

Are lockdowns coming back in the UK for real? I had the opposite impression from the news in the last two weeks. Some concern about variants, a push for vaccine passports from Boris’ cabinet, but no much talk of lockdowns. Please remember, The Economist is a British magazine. There is a world outside American borders.

"Fog in channel, continent isolated".

Really, though, the Economist isn't isolationist.

As Fauci once said, "the virus sets the timetable". The Delta variant is a big worry. R0 is 8 to 9. If hospitals get overwhelmed, there may be lockdowns again, at least for unvaccinated people.

Re: As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

#63

Post by Hammershaft »

hotcold wrote: post #46
hmsshagatsea wrote: post #13

How about hollywood starts making GOOD content again?

Absolutely not, the central theme of every movie, sporting event, advertisement, or news article must be DIVERSITY DIVERSITY DIVERSITY!

In a movie landscape of formulaic sequels, uninspired remakes, endless superhero flicks, and a total lack of original ips... why is more diversity the first factor you jump to?

Re: As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

#65

Post by hotcold »

Hammershaft wrote: post #63
hotcold wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely not, the central theme of every movie, sporting event, advertisement, or news article must be DIVERSITY DIVERSITY DIVERSITY!

In a movie landscape of formulaic sequels, uninspired remakes, endless superhero flicks, and a total lack of original ips... why is more diversity the first factor you jump to?

The new variable in the equation, and the only one I hear people complaining about. The things you mention have always existed and people were able to sift through them to find the gems. However the more recent subtle political messaging, sprinkled into most modern media, really turns people off.

Re: As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

#66

Post by username90 »

the-dude wrote: post #48
TechBro8615 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean that Comcast, ATT and Verizon collectively own a large portion of US media corporations – including CNN and MSNBC. You can quibble about the semantics of ownership, but the control of media is concentrated in a small cluster of last century's monopolies. There is an infographic here: https://techstartups.com/2020/09/18/6-corporations-control-9...

Are you basically saying the large media companies are kept alive to keep people on cable?

I don't think it has to serve a purpose other than power projection for the rich owners. I'd say that owning all media is the best bang for your buck if you want to to convert money to power.

Re: As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

#67

Post by yepthatsreality »

hmsshagatsea wrote: post #13

How about hollywood starts making GOOD content again?

I remember when the first Avengers movie came out, a lot of my industry friends repeated some nonsense line about how we need to see Blockbusters so that the money can trickle down to independent filmmakers and riskier ideas. 10 years later and the market is saturated with super hero films, the independent directors are all directing Disney blockbusters, and the riskier ideas only get a spotlight during Oscar season (unchanged).

Re: As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

#69

Post by brundolf »

Animats wrote: post #60
underseacables wrote: post #5

I think people are just exhausted and numb to what Hollywood, etc has to offer.

I've had it with the Marvel Overextended Universe, and Star [Wars|Gate|Trek|Craft]. Time for something new.

I've had it with scripts written by corporate committees. Star Wars can be good, just not under Disney's heel.

Re: As lockdowns lift, media firms brace for an “attention recession”

#70

Post by dillondoyle »

grae_QED wrote: post #18

Good. I hope they all go out of business. Their predatory practices are the reason why social media is so toxic. I'm honestly amazed that companies haven't figured out that advertisements are far less effective than they claim to be and they are probably over spending on them [1]. [1] https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/research/resear...

I feel this way about traditional broadcast/cable. BUT I think the side effect of dwindling audiences is far worse in toxicity. Look at NewsMax and Fox. They cater to more extreme more engaged viewers, at the expense of reality and the health of the rest of us.
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