As the advertising market recovers, two clear winners are emerging: the internet and television
First, its power to monopolise attention is undiminished. Many newspaper readers have moved online, where they are worth less to advertisers. Not so TV viewers. In the first quarter of this year the average American spent 158 hours per month in front of the box, according to Nielsen, a research firm. That was two hours more than a year earlier. By comparison, he spent just three hours watching video online and three-and-a-half hours watching it on his mobile phone. Keith Weed, the head of marketing at Unilever, a huge consumer-goods firm, is excited by the potential of online and mobile video. But for now, he admits, “it doesn't have the same presence” as television.
