Traditional Media in the Digital Era

“Video killed the radio star... pictures came and broke your heart”

These lyrics from the 1979 hit song ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’, touched on popular fears that new media like video was making old media like radio obsolete. To us, 1979 may seem like a world away but it does have one thing in common with 2019 – the worries over new media haven’t stopped. Even now that it’s clear video didn’t result in radio DJs being fired en masse, it can still be a challenge for us to adjust to rising forms of new media without panic or fear.

There are lots of lessons that we can take away from the relationship between video and radio. The first is that there has never been a sharp line between the two as is often the case with old and new forms of media. Video and radio worked together from the beginning, to inform, to educate, to promote new products or new forms of music. People would call in to radio stations to request their favourite songs, as seen on MTV. In fact, here’s a bit of irony, the first video played on the ground-breaking new channel MTV in 1981, was none other than “Video Killed the Radio Star”.

That brings us to the fact that video never did kill the radio star. After all, many of us continue to listen to the radio at home, on our way to work or wherever we like. What’s more, is that video soon became traditional media itself – but that doesn’t mean we’ve stopped watching videos. YouTube anyone? If there’s a lesson here it’s this: to thrive in the field of communications, you must adapt by embracing the new and reinventing the old.

So it makes sense that modern communication should not involve a choice between digital and traditional media. As I said before, the lines between the two are blurred and it’s unlikely that one is going to kill off the other entirely. Let’s consider newspapers. All major daily papers in T&T also create digital content and you’ll be hard pressed to find a mainstream newspaper anywhere else in the world that doesn’t. You can buy the physical paper just as easily as you can scroll through your Facebook feed to catch up on the major headlines. Traditional media doesn’t exist outside the digital revolution; it’s very much a part of it.

Plus, if your goal is to reach the widest audience possible, you really want to leverage both forms of media. After all, millennials and Gen Z might be more likely to interact with your brand online and Baby Boomers are more likely to read the papers but neither group sticks to their preferred medium exclusively. Each form of media also has its advantages and disadvantages and each can be used to build relationships in different ways.

We know, for example, that the public trusts traditional media more than digital media, with more than half of consumers stating that they do not trust news delivered over social media. There are of course drawbacks to printed publications – they give you a relatively short exposure and paid ads are costly – but the fact is that brands do benefit from an association with credible media outlets such as newspapers or respected magazines.

Of course, we also know that digital media allows you to deliver targeted messages and build closer relationships with customers especially when it comes to social media. The average internet user spends 2 hours and 22 minutes online and if your brand isn’t trying to communicate with them in this time, you’re missing out. You do have to compete with many other brands on social media; but as I’ve mentioned in a previous discussion on social good, being authentic and using powerful imagery significantly increases those odds.

The media platforms that you ultimately choose will depend on your goals, your budget and your target audience. However, if you can maximise all channels, and stay on the lookout for new media, then I’d say you’re well on your way to creating a dynamic and visible brand. Media will surely keep changing – but that doesn’t mean the death of the radio star or the TV star or the journalist – it just means you’ve got more opportunities to build strong relationships with people who care about your brand.