The death of TV is greatly exaggerated.

Being a heavy user of “newer” forms of media and obsessed with web/TV convergence, it’s easy to get caught up in consumption statistics that are consistently in the double digits. Take the fact that in comparison to last year:

• Online video consumption is up 34%
• DVR usage us up 21%

But in addition to the numbers above, the latest Nielsen 3 Screen Report shows that:

[99% of video consumption in the U.S. is done via traditional TV]

 By traditional TV, that means not DVR and not online video.  So just because I may be using my DVR to fast-forward commercials, most “video” viewers, at the moment, are not -- That’s significant.

Do a Google Real Time search for commercial and see that people, indeed, still see (and comment) on them in while they watch which also demonstrates Nielsen’s other stat that 57% of TV viewers simultaneously use the web.

I’m far from advocating that marketing remain status quo but I do strongly believe that it’s not an “either/or” decision.

[We cannot discount the power that mass media still has.]

Brands must design its media in such a way so that channels work harmonically together – making them greater than the sum of their parts. That’s when big things happen and people take notice.