If you have acted in a play, or have watched stage acters rehearse, you know what I mean, by medium is the message. A play or theatre needs you (the actor) to throw your voice to the last row , just in case the audio does not work. You also need to exaggerate your expressions so that the folks in the middle rows of the auditorium can appreciate your expressions. While stage actors (including Broadway ones) would like to believe that the last row of the audience is able to see and appreciate their nuances of expression, that's wishful thinking.
On the other hand a Y-Gen Millennial young person finds songs and acting from the 1950's and 1960's really slow and exaggerated. Hey its just that the theatre crowd is getting used to the film medium. In the movie world, there are numerous re-takes and a slight arch of the eyebrows can be "zoomed" in and music and special effects can be added for good measure. In the theatre world you get only one "take".
Today we see a similar shift from print and TV to the Internet. Simple question:
- What is the average programming duration on TV between advertising spots ?
- What is the average, popular YouTube/Internet video clip duration?
- Let's just say that the Internet video clip is shorter than a TV between ads segment. And you need to see the Ad before you see the Internet video clip.
- Let's just say that the Internet video clip is shorter than a TV between ads segment. And you need to see the Ad before you see the Internet video clip.
Just as the theatre to movie acting involved subtler expresssions , very different choreography in the movie world, we are at a threshold of shorter attention spans with the Internet today, compared to the printed word or TV. The huge upside is that your audience on the Internet is also far more focussed on your content compared to the TV or print audience. And that is a huge opportunity for business.