According to forecasts published by eMarketer at the beginning of this year, online ad spending is forecast to rise significantly every year for the next five years.
This includes predicted growth of 23.3% to $39.5 billion this year.
Reuters reports the growth is mostly focused on video (54.7%), sponsorships (27%) and search (27%). A Pew study into the state of the media in 2011 said that growth rates for video were projected to outpace every other ad type category by double digit margins through 2014.
In the local online ad market where display ad revenue is king the top five site categories are 1) Portals, Search engines & ISP’s 2) Business, Finance, Investing 3) TV Stations 4) Sports 5) Newspapers.
Radio did not make the top 25.
Considering these transformative and disruptive trends in online advertising, conventional Christian broadcast executives must put away any reluctance to fully engage with digital media.
Delving into the details of the digital arena can be challenging and intimidating. For one thing, digital is not a single medium where all the parts fit together squarely, like radio-based broadcasting and marketing.
The reality is, convergence is redefining our media landscape.
Digital is made up of an array of different media from web-based, to mobile and social channels, to the newly emerging and still evolving cloud variants characterized by rapid change. This constantly moving and shifting landscape of digital tools can be misleading. There are many areas within the digital realm that are now well established and no longer experimental.
It is these areas that should be subjected to a rigorous analysis. Content creation. Content distribution. Advertising networks. Audience engagement. Digital marketing services.
It won’t be easy for Christian broadcasters. So many of our resources have been allocated to traditional media methods of simply getting the gospel out through spoken word or music. What we need are the elder statesmen or prophets that have guided and inspired us through all our previous periods of crisis or change.
God is never late.
The tools for reaching every soul on the planet are at hand but we are still far behind in our efforts to create a digital competency.
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has just announced plans to hold the largest North American evangelistic event in more than 60 years of Billy Graham’s ministry on the week of his 95th birthday next year.
However, unlike the huge stadium outreaches that he is perhaps best known for, the “My Hope With Billy Graham” event planned for on Nov. 7, 2013, will use the latest in media distribution technology to present the evangelist’s Gospel message into people’s homes and on handheld devices.
Taking inspiration from Billy Graham’s wonderful example, even the most reluctant should be able to see it’s time to smell the digital coffee and wake up to the paradox that the tools for reaching every soul on the planet are at hand but the industry as a whole is still far behind in its efforts to create a digital competency.
They should trust their instincts and experience and ask questions such as “what are mainstream newspapers, television stations, and broadcasters doing” and “what can be learned from pioneering churches and ministries” and “should we have a standardized approach to this activity” and certainly “show us how to fund it every step of the way.”
The extent of involvement from all sectors of Christian broadcasting will determine if the industry is able to prosper or become another victim of the ongoing digital revolution.