Our Lens on Modern Media
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Image credit: Kirsty Pargeter
We keep a close eye on current digital trends both in how people consume media and in how shoppers are making their purchasing decisions online.
By the year 2025, the global social commerce industry is expected to reach $1.2 trillion, triple growth compared to traditional e-commerce
We’ve gone from a set number of traditional newspapers, TV, radio, and magazines to literally millions of new, niche content-producing social media accounts, streaming options, podcasts (hello audio opportunities), digital newspapers/newsletters, and mass aggregators like Reddit, trying to pull it all together. Completely new categories like the influencer and creator economy gave whiplash to an industry way overdue for disruption and now consumers are calling the shots and creating the trends. The way we create and consume content has drastically changed.
“Media companies in the United States are now feeling more turbulence from the deeper currents shaping consumer behavior” reported Deloitte in their 2022 annual digital media trends survey. Something as standard as searching for restaurants online also has heads turning in how consumers are behaving. “In our studies, something like almost 40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search, they go to TikTok or Instagram” stated Google Senior Vice President, Prabhakar Raghavan.
So What is Modern Media?
It’s the freedom to choose how we want to consume highly personalized content on our own terms and schedules. For some, that means finally catching up on our reading by listening (thank you life-changing wireless headphones) and for others, that means ditching established norms and looking to new platforms for guidance (will the next generation still be using “Google” as a verb? Maybe not.)
More voices and perspectives than ever are being widely shared at little to no cost.
Completely new categories like the influencer and creator economy have also sprouted and keep giving whiplash to an industry way overdue for disruption. Now consumers are calling the shots and creating new trends.
Just like the retail world has learned to meet its clients where they are with seamless omnichannel shopping experiences, so too has the media industry.
Modern media isn’t waiting around to get comfortable like the traditional media model of the past. It’s ever-evolving.
Where Does That Leave Marketers?
As marketers that can be really overwhelming because it’s not as easy as “just place an ad in the newspaper” anymore but then again, what’s the fun in that? We see modern media as the lens we each want to look (or listen) through and we’re curiously keeping tabs on where it’s taking us. There is now a place for every voice to be heard and uniquely deep connections to be made, often with strangers. Authenticity is at an all-time high and people feel more free to break out of whatever shells or boxes previously confined them. Just ask someone on zoom to stand up and they’ll probably proudly show off their comfy workout pants because in 2022, we’re empowered to be human!
Yes, keeping up with all these quickly-evolving channels is A LOT, but we are complicated and complex creatures and modern media is like this beautiful mess that’s helping us make sense of it all. Plus, when you really plug in, sometimes the pace feels just right.
Our lens on Modern Media is PRISM: used for dispersing light into a spectrum of colors and vibrations. In our newly revamped digital lounge, we’ll be serving our colorful view of the world with notes of curiosity and a strong side of digital trends. Come hang out whenever you want to pause for a peek behind our Kaleidoscope!
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