TV vs Internet

For years, TV advertisements and print advertisements dominated the advertising industry. Yes, TV commercials and newspaper and magazine ads were expensive, but for most advertisers, the money they spent was worth it. People were watching television and reading newspapers and magazines. But times are changing. Television is still the biggest segment for advertisers, but that won't last for much longer. Instead, the Internet will overtake both TV and print marketing very soon. There are several reasons for this. First is the Internet's growing popularity. Today, the number of people who surf the Internet is enormous. In the 1980s, few people owned personal computers. Nowadays, most households have at least one PC, and more people are using the World Wide Web every year. People are also getting their news from the Internet. That's making print newspapers and magazines less popular. People are even watching TV programs on the Internet. So, as you can see, there's a growing audience available to Internet advertisers. Another important reason is cost. Making and airing a television commercial can cost a huge amount of money. For local TV, it might be thousands of dollars, but for national TV, it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. In some cases, advertisers spend millions of dollars to run 30-second commercials on highly rated TV shows or sports broadcasts. But it's much less expensive to advertise on the Internet. Internet advertisements are typically cheap to make. Many times, they merely provide a link to a company's website, and they don't cost that much either. Some Internet advertisements cost a few hundred dollars or even less to place on another website. The most expensive ads rarely require more than several thousand dollars. Finally, companies can advertise to specific groups on the Internet. All sorts of people watch TV or read newspapers and magazines. So an advertisement for baby products might not appeal to most of the audience or readers. However, a company advertising baby products on the Internet can buy ad space on websites that parents with babies often visit. This lets the advertiser get more value from its money.