Beyond exposure: Interactive television and the new media currency

Authors

Mark Balnaves, Edith Cowan University
Duane Varan

Document Type

Journal Article

Publisher

Australian Key Centre for Cultural and Media Policy, Griffith University

Faculty

Faculty of Community Services, Education and Social Sciences

School

School of Communications and Multimedia

RAS ID

610

Comments

Balnaves, M., & Varan, D. (2002). Beyond exposure: Interactive television and the new media currency. Media International Australia incorporating Culture and Policy, 105(1), 95-104. Available here

Abstract

Significant effort in advertising is directed towards maximising exposure — to ensure that, for example, a broadcast audience is exposed to an optimum number of messages in a media planning schedule. ‘Interactivity’ as it is emerging, however, has a dramatic effect on traditional assumptions about frequency and reach (how many times the message is repeated and how extensively it is received). Interactivity potentially shifts choice back to the audience, allowing a ‘bypassing’ of attempts to repeat messages. Audiences, given the choice, simply will avoid advertisements that are designed primarily for exposure. Audiences in an environment where they can personalise and customise a medium according to their preferences — and indeed become ‘producers' of content themselves — will be looking for content that is designed for elaboration, rather than only repetition. There is a background to this emerging trend and it is explored in this paper.

DOI

10.1177/1329878X0210500114