Advertising is an attempt to disseminate information in order
to promote products, services or ideas and affect a buyer-seller
transaction. There are various mediums of advertisements
and each medium has its own attributes. The advent of Internet
and its growing penetration has enabled this medium to emerge
as an important platform for advertisement. Since Internet
users are well educated with higher levels of income, they
are becoming a desired target for advertisers. Moreover,
studies suggest that three-quarters of PC users are giving
up some television time and that works in favour to the companies
that are opting for this medium. The various channels of
Internet advertisements include Internet communities, chat
rooms, e-mail, newsgroups, and kiosks. Television advertisements
could broadly be channelised through cable and broadcast
mediums. One of the basic differences between these two mediums
of advertisement is that the Internet advertisements could
be specifically targeted to a certain group. Television,
in all respects has the advantage of reaching a broader audience
and is the favourite medium for the prominent companies.
Other differences between the two mediums as platforms for
advertisement is that the Internet advertisements are frequently
cheaper, could be updated any time with a minimum cost and
these can use efficiently text, audio, graphics, and animation
in comparison to television. The boom in high-speed Internet
service has fuelled the growth of 'rich media' or multimedia
advertisements that incorporate motion and sound. They include
full-page 'screen stealer' ads you cannot avoid, banner ads
that expand when you slide your mouse over them, and tiny
icons that zip from nowhere across your screen. The rich
media ads are fuelling a recovery in the online advertising
market, and may reflect a major step for the Internet in
joining the mainstream media. The ads are now becoming more
like those on television.
The advertisements of the two media provide in-depth, detailed
information that suits their users, such as infomercials
on cable television and click-through ads provided by the
Internet. It happens that for most consumers, enough information
for a product is a motive for trusting and buying a product.
Both the media - television and the Internet offer instant
information services and customers get a chance to not be
bothered by a salesman as they walk into Best Buy looking
for a commodity or consumer good. The basic difference between
the two media on this point is that cable television advertisements
are still under the control of cable television institution
and advertisers for how much information they would like
to offer due to the limited time arranged for each commercial.
However, Internet users can take their time as long as they
need to collect information if they are willing to pay for
getting online.
But, it must be remembered that the effectiveness of advertisements
of the two media depends on consumer’s needs and desires
to buy. The selling of products on these two media becomes
entertainment for people, not responsibility, such as cable
television's pay-per-view programming and home shopping channels.
For the Internet there are the web sites that sell books,
computer and CDs. It is not like the other media that force
people to be exposed in a specific advertisement and buy
a product they don't even need. Finally, the Internet advertisements,
packed in funny or an enjoyable game could be displayed through
the web but there is a possibility that it would never be
showcased on television because of censors. For example,
Mazda UK recently made an internet-only ad, called "Parking",
which it screened on its mazda2.co.uk site. This advertisement
could not find its way on the television screen because it
was against the censorship rule that states, "Vehicles should
not be depicted in dangerous or unwise situations in a way
that would encourage irresponsible driving".
Banner advertisement is the most commonly used form of advertising
on the Internet. These are graphical images that could be
static, animated or rich media. These form of advertisements
are very popular on the World Wide Web because through these
advertisements, huge chunk of online traffic could be channellised
to the advertiser’s web page. One of the other advantages
of using banner advertisements is the convenience of getting
them customized. Apart from increasing traffic to a web site
and sales of the product or service, banner advertisement
persuades people to remember the name of the advertised product
or service. Banner advertisement can inform the prospective
clients about the product or service.
Tim Johnson Junior is a freelance writer, CRWA certified resume
writer and career coach. Has written over 2000 articles and
essays on the subject of Social Issues. Has worked for
Essaymart's
custom writing department from 2003 to 2005. Currently,
Tim is busy helping professionals and executives optimize their
careers at a
certified
Resume Writing firm, ResumeAid.
