# The Evolution of Media During the COVID-19 Pandemic

- Link: https://chatterblast.com/blog/the-evolution-of-media-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/
- Published: 2021-09-02T16:45:38-04:00
- Author: Joe Mineo

_Advertising and analytics have changed drastically in the past few years, especially
in 2020. This series, “The State of Advertising and Analytics,” will explore the
evolution of media, advertising and privacy, the rapid growth of data analytics 
in marketing, and the future of marketing and analytics, providing useful tips and
value along the way._

## ***

It’s hard to believe, but some of the biggest digital media players have recently
or will soon hit the 15 year mark: **Facebook**, **Twitter**, **Spotify**, **Hulu**,**
MediaMath**, **Apple**’s iPhone… and yet, it took a few heated election cycles and
a [global pandemic](https://chatterblast.com/category/covid-19) to force businesses
and marketing teams to understand the true value and power of these companies. Along
with the players, the game changed, too.

## **The grim reality**

Traditional television, radio and print as we knew them a decade ago are dying, 
no matter how brightly anyone tries to spin it.

In 2016, I worked behind the scenes for a local talk radio station that was consistently
rated among the lowest in the city by normal rankings, but rated top 20 across the
country on the company’s entire portfolio of digital streams, across all demographics.
I was told that the [People Meter](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_People_Meter)
readings (how they measure over-the-air radio) were inconsistent for the station,
as the core of older listeners died or users forgot to turn them on, which is what
caused the discrepancy. The measurement was, and still is, outdated, and is now 
finally [under the scrutiny](https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/tv-networks-nielsen-ratings-suspension-1235024816/)
it deserves.

Advertisers are changing their tune. Businesses don’t want rating points, they want
results. People aren’t buying physical newspapers, they aren’t watching local news
the way they used to, and if they are, they’re likely watching it on-demand. The
worst part of it all is the amount of layoffs, which has affected thousands across
the country, including a lot of my friends over the years. I could link dozens of
articles from 2014 to now detailing “company restructuring” events, but I want to
end the unhappy news here.

“Traditional” media has evolved to include [streaming services](https://chatterblast.com/which-streaming-service-are-you/)
and digital properties, and as long as they continue to follow those successes, 
lean into their legacy brands, and provide [better measurement](https://chatterblast.com/dashboard-confessional-5-reasons-why-live-dashboard-reporting-is-best/),
they’ll retain their value—just at a much lesser scale of dominance than they once
had.

## The happy future

What happened? People have access to news, music, entertainment and information 
in their hands, on their own time. The attention economy—where attention lives and
how it is monetized—shifted from the few media conglomerates setting the schedules
to the broader public. Social media brought real-time global socialization to the
masses, and people devoured it. People control when they see and hear things, what
they say, who they want to say it, and where they want to see it. The stars and 
artists have direct access, they don’t need their movie deals or record labels to
reach their fans. Just as the studio system of the 1950s fell upon the advent of
TV, traditional media has fallen upon the advent of digital media.

This seismic shift is a great thing, as it democratizes those media dollars and 
has arguably created more jobs than have been lost from the failing titans. Sure,
the technology itself helped, but it’s the monetization and measurement that’s winning.
Facebook and Google figured out how to make money on eyeballs. Hulu and Spotify 
monetized their massively popular platforms, and everyone gathered insights along
the way to help advertisers reach people more effectively.

## The election years

Society’s darling, social media, had its own reckoning across three years: 2016,
2018 and 2020. A well-weathered example was the 2016 election, where we all learned
that we share way too much information online, and it’s incredibly easy to manipulate
people with enough personal data. Facebook took the [brunt of the blame](https://chatterblast.com/bruised-not-broken-facebook-fighting-year/),
which led to many platforms reorganizing their algorithms and a change in how people
consume content.

Feeds went from chronological to “recommended for you,” forever altering our perception
of digital reality. Ignored posts from days or weeks ago could pop up and go viral,
or catch a second wind with a new audience. Ads got new prioritization in the feed
when all the other platforms saw how effective they were. However, instead of job
cuts, there were job increases to handle content moderation and customer support.
It’s kind of like the myth of Hydra: Platforms can try to slay the data and content
manipulation beast, but cut off one head and two will grow back.

## The pandemic awakening

If you thought a slow burn and churn over fifteen years was crazy, COVID-19 forced
the unwitting masses to kill even more giants in the span of a few months. OTT (
think Hulu, **SlingTV**, **Netflix**) exploded as people [cut cable cords](https://chatterblast.com/everything-to-know-about-ott-and-ctv-advertising/)
to save money. Hungry for more video, **[TikTok](https://chatterblast.com/whats-the-deal-with-tiktok/)**
took off and gave people a new place to complain about politics. Jobless and frustrated,
people stormed to **LinkedIn** and **Indeed** to make themselves more appealing 
to employers, or even quit altogether, forcing companies to rethink their hiring
procedures. [Zoom](https://chatterblast.com/zoom-is-the-social-platform-of-the-social-distancing-era/)
went from a casual conference call system to the vital lifeblood of business communication.
QR codes—something we all forgot about—became the best way for restaurants to serve
menus when they didn’t want to waste hundreds of dollars printing disposable options.

All of these changes and rapid adaptations show you just how quickly society moves
to the things that work best in the moment. The pandemic was a meteorite, and it
wiped out dinosaur technology indiscriminately. Stalwarts like Skype, Comcast and
Instagram had to pivot or improve their offerings to stay relevant, along with thousands
of businesses around the world. Over a year later, thankfully a lot are still standing.

## Bringing it all together

The bad thing about evolution is all the cool stuff we thought we liked suddenly
disappears, replaced by weird new stuff. The good thing about evolution is that 
the new stuff works way better and does a lot more.

Big screen TVs used to cost thousands, but now you can get a pretty good one for
a couple hundred. Same goes for marketing. Small businesses could never make radio
or TV work at scale, but thanks to two decades of utter chaos in the media world,
businesses get cheaper ads that scale more effectively and reach people in more 
measurable ways.

There are definitely questions about privacy in advertising—we’ll get to that in
the next chapter—but generally, people are happier now with their endless media 
choices than ever before. Knowing how the landscape has evolved is crucial to understanding
the state of the ecosystem as a whole and the potential this new ecosystem has for
democratizing success for businesses. If you’re curious about where media is heading
and how to prepare your business for the future, we’d love to [hear from you](https://chatterblast.com/contact/).