Media's Salvation: Interactive Consumers

[Commentary] Interactive consumers will be the salvation of a painful, protracted recession in surprising and constructive ways -- if only media and Internet companies respond to trends. Consumers will become merchants and advertisers, utilizing digital interactive tools to secure more value and wealth. It is a logical progression in the rampant interactive conversion, even in a gloomy global economy. These individual marketers of their own personal goods and services will demand the easy access, accountability and assured ROI that only digital media can provide. This will be a key catalyst in shifting more of the overall ad and consumer spending from traditional static media. Such homegrown interactivity is a powerful and hugely underestimated force that will continue to spur growth in ad-supported media and entertainment, even as business tanks in 2009. Media and Internet companies that fail to grasp the significance of individual consumer needs are doomed to falter in trying economic times. Slashing costs and hoarding cash will matter little in the long run if companies resist reinventing themselves for new digital realities.