What future for TV advertising?

Further evidence of the decreasing amount of TV consumed was in evidence today.
http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/2005/08/16/gaming_hours_up_tv_down/index.php
This article in Media Buyer Planner indicates that 25% of gamers watch less TV.
More own mobile phones and 48% play games on the phone.
These are significant changes in media consumption. Many have written that the 30 second commercial is not dead, but surely its salience for even mass market advertisers is reducing.
Is it time to buy outdoor like no tomorrow????
For one thing the L word has shown that powerful creative can cover two media.

Car companies moving to pull through films

http://adage.com/news.cms?newsId=45734
This adage article highlights the increasing use of short films, frequently shown on the Internet by car companies. Cars are a very expensive high-involvement purchase and branding plays a huge part in choosing a car. The Internet is providing this opportunity for greater interaction between the cars and the audience. There's a broad appetite for great content whether on the Internet, DVD or TV it seems that the car companies are leading the way in adopting this form of advertising. Building a brand through engaging consumers in a short film that emphasises the functional and emotional attributes of a car brand appears to be a cost effective method when compared with the time constraints and media buying costs of the 30 second advertisement.

Viral goes further into the mainstream

http://www.adrants.com/2005/08/blowing-smoke-movie-promoted-and.php
Hollywood blockbusters are usually backed by the promotional budgets of the studios. I picked this article up from adrants (great site) that highlights how a film producer Kamal Aboukhater is promoting his new film "Blowing Smoke" through the blogosphere.
Whether this is as suggested a move away from the frustrations of leaving the promotion to the studios or a genuine strategic decision to use the "new" media for marcomms remains unknown. The results of this campaign will be very interesting especially as recent research published in Nature indicates that word of mouth from the first watchers of a film is a key ingredient in its box office success. The crucial thing is getting the early bums on seats. Whether the potentially narrower media placement with the latent potential for global spread can do this remains to be seen.

Superb creative - but just how superb

Someone recently sent me a viral game for an old school version of Decathlon. The game was for an energy drink so very appropriate creative material.  The problem, the Decathlon only had one event!  This was a fantastic opportunity to generate brand interaction on a great platform.  However, I was left wanting more because when I qualified by winning the sprint (admittedly not on the first go!) I was expecting to play javelin.