Changes in TV Consumption
We’ve all heard the phrase, “No one is watching TV any more,” or “No one is reading the newspaper today.” 
Well, no one is right. We are in an age of transition and change, and it seems that absolutes make us all feel better. We do have to change with the prevailing winds, but you also have to keep the ship upright and avoid oversteering.
Here’s a chart from people I trust (Nielsen) and who have not been known to provide fake news or worse, fake research. It shows that smartphone usage is growing for 18-24-year-olds. While for people 35+, TV has a healthy advantage. I believe if you look at the spendable income, you will also see that TV has the advantage.
The problem with these kinds of comparisons is that it pits TV against smartphones, and the comparison seems a bit false. So, with this knowledge, does it mean you should be putting more money into web/app advertising or TV advertising? And what do you do with the 25-34-year-olds where the playing field is even?
From my perspective, it means what it always has: You must carefully identify your target audience and you must understand the idiosyncrasies of that audience. In fact, you must also understand so much more than the age of the audience. We spend a lot of time talking about personas with our clients. The fact is that different people need different messaging, no matter if they are 18 or 65.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.