Eyeless on Campus--Research Proposal
Eyeballs vs. Segmentation: What Works, What Doesn't
Environics Analytics makes the following statement on the audience:
“As a methodology, segmentation has been around for years and is an effective way to identify and quantify your target audience.”
But like many other aspects of the Digital Age, the transition from one paradigm to another was sudden, leaving in the wake many valuable tools from its predecessor. Some had reached as far as they would go and would become “obsolete.” Others were the result of the snail’s pace progress often takes as a product becomes more useful and widespread. Still others would be the result of sudden shifts, discoveries and procedures, moving the paradigm along from geometric to exponential growth. The theory of audience segmentation developed in conjunction with the transformation from analog to digital, although not necessarily in a one-to-one chronological sequence with it.
The purpose of this research paper is to closely examine not just the correspondence between the analog to digital quantum leap, but the effect it had on the evolution of audience segmentation and consumer targeting, with its backbone theory of algorithms. It might be noted that the backbone network closely resembles the interactive communication model currently advanced which involves various hubs instead of a central network. How all of this ties into audience segmentation will also be explored, as there may be a link between the very basic concept of segmentation (demographics, consumer habits, etc.) and the outright structure of the network involved in not just advertising, but news dissemination itself (agency, gatekeeping, etc.)
“One activity not captured by these Nielsen numbers is videocassette viewing.
While this activity might look a lot like TV watching to many parents, it is
considered something completely separate by the advertising industry,
because video cassettes contain no conventional advertising. “
Geraldine Fabricant, “Advertisers scramble as kids cut TV time,” Austin American-Statesman,
08 Apr 1996, Mon · Page A7
From the sentence by Geraldine Fabrikant published in the Austin
American-Statesman in 1996, a conclusion could be drawn that the advertising industry might have been
in collusion to bring about the demise of the video cassette player. At the same time,
the gradual crossover from eyeballs to segmentation was already in progress,
as reported by Jim East in The Tennessean,
“American television and movie producers are looking for the ‘right advertising eyeballs’-males aged 18-49-and are not as concerned about content,”
Jim East, “It’s a battle of money vs. meaning,” The Tennessean, 10 July 1995, page 9A.
Certainly, The Digital Age ushered in the shift away from analog and it becomes
clear that where the evolution began is important. A search of the archives shows the
term “digital age” was used in a newspaper report under the headline
“New Electronics Due At 1961 Motorama.” published in the San Rafael
Daily Independent Journal,
“...a radar warning system, a VLF military communications system, and a
‘digital’ age computer.”
Staff, “New Electronics At 1961 Motorama,” Daily Independent Journal, 06 January 1961, page M3.
That particular computer, however, was designed to predict a person’s “age” after a
given number of questions. Little did anyone suspect at the time that the term would
eventually encompass a revolution in communications, in media, and in advertising.
A photo in The Kokomo Tribune illustrated the actual digital “age” computer. It was developed by “the Delco Radio
Division of General Motors.” Question 11 was gender based.
Inez Robb, under the headline “One Number Per Each Human In Digital Age,” reported that the USAF was “about to bounce the chaplain from its ranks because this rugged individualist, refusing to be reduced to a number, refused to furnish the Reserve with his zip code.”
“Delco Hobby Show Committee Members,” The Kokomo Tribune, 24 March 1961, page 11.
Inez Robb, “One Number Per Each Human In Digital Age,” The World, 02 June 1964, page 4.
As the computer came into existence in the mainstream, “the digital age,” a term
with no relevance at all to its modern general meaning, was previously used in harmless
innocuous contexts. It would eventually represent the post-Industrial Age, burdened
with iconic reel-to-reel technology, archaic mini-tape players and the last of its breed,
the videocassette.
Formal definitions of The Digital Age can now be found across the worldwide information web; IGI Global initially lists 35 from various sources. A link on that page expands that list to over 46,000 articles. Those articles attribute the term to the late 18th century. Steve Denning, writing for Forbes in 2022, uses the term “mechanized spinning,” as a requirement of the digital age, tracing its origin back to the 1700s. If that’s the case, why not go all the way back to the invention (discovery) of the wheel itself under the category of mechanized spinning. Denning correctly identifies the gap in definition due to the approach of that very definition, which he calls inaccurate, and
what is needed: “writing that presents a coherent picture of all the various aspects of the new age.“ That earthquake fault, then, has been around from the beginning of the new era, and contributes not just to that lack of coherent definition but obscures any number of variables associated with it. One of which is where the advertiser-based news industry fits, in other words, “eyeballs.”
“What is Digital Age,” InfoSci-OnDemand Search: Scholarly Research Journal Articles and Book Chapters | IGI Global (igi-global.com)
Steve Denning, “What Is The Digital Age And What Does It Mean?” Forbes, 09 February 2022, What Is The Digital Age And What Does It Mean? (forbes.com)
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