Television is supreme at holding the attention of a large number of people for long periods. Other gadgets divert people from the box, but not nearly as much as TV diverts them from all those other gadgets. And technology has undermined some of television's biggest competitors, notably newspapers. In a world of fragmenting audiences it is the only real global mass medium. If TV can combine scale with specificity, become more responsive to its audience and learn to aim adverts more precisely, it will continue to thrive.
