Addressing broadcasting, narrowcasting, and microcasting, unless you’re a business major, only becomes really interesting when you look at its future. Unlike the 50’s, when daytime TV catered to female audiences, Saturday morning catered to children, and primetime catered to the man of the house, our world today is shaped by a much more diverse group of spectators. As Nate addressed in class, not even the Food Network is catering to an all-female fan base anymore. I mean…you saw Giada’s low-cut shirt, right?
Today, advertisers have taken the position of narrowcasting. Commercials aren’t broadcast to “men coming home from work” anymore. They’re broadcast to “Hispanic men, 18-34 years old, working blue collar jobs in the Midwest.” It’s really a new level of advertising that marketing and advertising grads are probably still beaming about. Unfortunately, they probably still haven’t gone far enough, for their tastes or maybe even our own.
As Lewis and Parks addressed, TiVo and the connections we make on DVRs may take advertising to a new level. No longer will they narrowcast, they’ll microcast, baby! They’ll understand that even though I’m a college student and am slotted into a neat little advertising demographic, that advertising Busch Light to me is completely useless. A) it sucks, and b) who the hell thinks it’s a good idea to crack open some cheap beer while zip-lining in the mountains…honestly. Anyway, these DVRs will retain a form of virtual memory and advertisers will probably start buying rights to access them, yada yada, etc. The more interesting thought is “Do we hate this or do we want this?” Furthermore, “In the end, aren’t we really just convincing ourselves things are easier and making more work for ourselves?” Look back to the invention of television and women in the house for some back-story. Or…read my response paper to see what I think. You know you wanna.
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