Interesting Television Consumption Thought

From Stan Lee over at brand dna. Interesting thought -- in bold.

Both my kids, ages 11 and 15, spend way more time online than watching TV.
They also go online while they're watching TV.
It's as if the TV has become this generation's background music.
Something to have on to take away the silence whilst you're doing other things.

I guess the thought struck me because even though I'm not in the demo he references, I often find that television IS playing that role of background noise. As though it is becoming almost and audio versus video medium. Which, in and of itself, is quite an interesting thought to ponder.

Think of radio -- the ultimate background medium. Seldom does anyone consume the medium with complete attention. They're always doing something else -- driving, reading, talking, working, etc. At least with TV, the audience was assumed to be actually viewing...but what if Stan's observation is not only right but not right enough. What if folks are starting to treat certain types of TV as background?

In my own consumption I'd certainly classify morning shows like The Today Show, news, talk shows and many game shows as background noise. I'm hearing the show but not necessarily watching it, unless something in the audio track catches my ear and peaks my interest. On the positive side, because I'm not actively "watching" the show, I don't bother turning the channel or fast forward if I happen to be watching on Tivo -- so on one hand, I'm being exposed to the ads but on the downside, if those ads are using a visual solution -- which so many tv ads today rely on -- then I'm likely missing it. However, if the clever creative built an audio spot that has a visual compliment (for those folks that are actually watching) then the advertiser might actually have a better shot of reaching me. Now doesn't that throw yet another monkey wrench in our advertising challenge.

Maybe Tivo isn't the only thing TV advertising needs to worry about.