The Revolution in Media Choice

Another important piece of advice for traditional broadcasters of all stripes.  In today's world, infinite choice is just a click away.  Read what Seth Godin says that means for those who want people's attention.

In the traditional model, you can only play one program at a time. One radio show or one movie or one show...

Scarcity of spectrum has changed just about every element of our culture. Scarcity of shelf space as well.

There are just a few radio stations in each market, and each station gets precisely one hour to broadcast each hour. Scarcity of spectrum, inflexible consumption (listen now or it's gone forever).

There are only a hundred or so channels on most cable systems. Each viewer is precious and you can only program one show at a time. So program for the largest audience you can find, because that's how you get paid. Share of viewership is everything.

There's only one shelf in front of that bookstore visitor at a time. That bit of shelf space is quite valuable... winner take all. Either the book is on that shelf or it's not.

And every trade show booth takes up a few hundred square feet. There can only be one booth in each location, so the trade show operator charges as much as she can for this particular spot. And having paid so much, the exhibitor tries to get people in and prevent the from leaving so soon. All of them.

BUT

And it's a big but...

In a world where everything is a click away, and in a world where everyone can have their own YouTube channel, ten blogs and a thousand email accounts... the only thing that's scarce is attention.

Read the rest of Seth's blog entry here.