The changing roles of mass media amidst the growth of the digital media

Abstract

AbstractMass media have been a significant element in society. However, as people have more access to information and communication technology, they spend more time on digital media than on mass media. Thus, we explore this issue along with the factors and implications that this trend might bring about. This is the first study to conduct an in-depth comparative analysis along with literature review to understand this major change in media consumption. The paper first analyzes the characteristics and the communication process of mass and digital media. Then, we compare mass media and digital media’s usage, the numbers of Internet and digital media’ users in the United States along with global social media users. We discover the usage per day for digital media has increased while that for mass media declined. We explore the reasons behind this change and identify factors affecting the marketers’ decisions to change the ways they spend marketing communications’ budget on both types of media. We are also interested in the roles of mass media in the era when digital media gain more popularity. Implications and recommendations for marketers to cope with this major change are discussed including the impact on target market selection, marketing communications budget planning, functions of the media, behavioral transactions of both types of media, new supporting roles of the mass media and the roles of both types of media in supporting integrated marketing communications’ campaigns.

Keywords

• Mass media
• digital media
• media time spending
• media usage
• the internet
• mobile phones