Who Spends More On Media: Consumers Or Advertisers?

from the really-depends-on-how-you-count dept

An investment bank has released a study saying that consumers now spend more money on media than advertisers do. Traditionally, things like TV are considered advertising-supported media, rather than consumer supported. However, with the rise of things like cable TV, that's been shifting and the study says it's shifted all the way in favor of consumers spending more on media than advertisers do. However, you really have to wonder how they came up with these numbers, because you could make plenty of arguments concerning what really counts as "media." Does an internet connection count? If so, that's a lot of money being spent on media between cable fees and internet connections. Do services (not content) count? Every year there's a ridiculous study trying to count up how much people spend on online content, and it includes online services like dating sites -- which is completely different than paying for "content." So, it's easy to come up with different ways to have the numbers fall into line, but it doesn't necessarily mean that people are willing to open up their wallets and pay for "content" as some will interpret this latest study to suggest.
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