Sorry, the Internet Can't Fix TV's Reach Problem

Television advertising has a growing reach problem caused by accelerating audience fragmentation.

Over the past fifteen years, the average reach of national TV campaigns has dropped by 20% and individual spots by 80%, in spite of TV viewing being at an all-time high. While this seems to have come as a surprise to many, what surprised me was the number of industry folks who have responded with an indifferent "So what?" Apparently, there is a not-so-insignificant school of thought in the media industry that reach on TV doesn't matter so much anymore. I disagree. Ad reach on TV matters now more than ever. Agencies, clients and networks alike should all care.

Here are five good reasons why:

1. A target audience not reached is a potential customer not created.
2. The cause of the reach problem is fragmentation compounded by the failure of industry's tools and practices to keep up.
3. Talking targeting is a red herring.
4. The "network effect" still requires audience exposure.
5. Making up lost reach "off-TV" is expensive and not even close to comparable.