Photo: TVbythenumbers

"Hey, did you see the commercial for [fill-in-the-blank]?"

That's a question that seems to come up in conversation periodically, and my answer most likely is, "no."

That doesn't surprise me. Even while I was still working in the TV industry, making increasingly artful explanations for why ad dollars should be spent there, I was fast forwarding through the commercials in my own home.

Like most people I know in the rapidly growing market segment of DVR users, I watch little live TV. In addition to offering the convenience of watching programs on my own schedule, time-shifting is a calculated strategy to avoid the ads. Sorry to my former peers and anyone who's paid them to reach me with a sales pitch: If I'm not fast-forwarding through a commercial break, it's most likely because I'm not paying attention anyway.

If you're in the business of media wondering what direction to take your career, or more importantly, buying it as a means of promoting your product, this article by Henry Blodget, contributer for Advertising Age among other publications, spells out how the television biz will be in the same shape as today's newspaper industry within 5-10 years: Sorry, There's No Way To Save the TV Business.

Maybe that doesn't interest you like it does me. You sure don't have to be an industry expert to see the changes. Everybody knows already that when someone asks you if you saw [fill-in-the-blank], you can probably find it online if it's worth watching. So to demonstrate how "new media" is revolutionizing advertising, here's one you may not have seen... Hey, just doing my part.