Once, a day's tv came down to choosing a favourite channel and for the most part, settling in to watch the night's run of programmes. But these days it doesn't work like that any more - if you want, you can create your own channel every night, and a growing number of viewers are doing just that.
Every week, half of our population visits YouTube and views much less commercial TV, a recent Roy Morgan Research poll has revealed. In fact, half of these watch almost no commercial TV at all.
Facebook devotees also show a 16 per cent drop below average viewing. It all adds up to a major hole in the audience ratings.
Once an advertising campaign across the channels could be assured of reaching most of the targeted public. This can't be guaranteed any more, so what is an advertiser to do?
Well the perpetrators have their answer: "Come to us!" They are making increasingly aggressive efforts to bring the major brands onto their books.
As for the brands, well they have to spread their jam thinner to cover all the extra toast. But that isn't enough. They will have to be much more specific in what they say to each small bloc of viewers.
Tim Martin, General Manager at Roy Morgans, has been studying this new world. What are they looking for that TV doesn't supply?
"They want generated content - like their own friends, their music, entertainment, videos."
It's all much too personal for a broadcaster to supply, explains Tim. "TV is a linear medium, it's constrained by time - there's only so much of it in a day."
On the other hand, the web is not a prisoner. So all the entertainment brands have rushed in, creating a carnival of choice. Music brands like Apple, Sony, Deutsche Grammophon, enterprising singers like Shakira, movie studios like Disney and Warner Bros - all just a click away.
CEO Stephen Langsford has accused his American rival of loading his gloves. You see, Netflix is not yet officially in Australia but through a bit of trickery with Virtual Private Networks, thousands of locals have been using the site - and not paying the required licensing fees. Very profitable for Netflix and galling for Quickflix who have been obeying the law.
The world ahead of us will be hard to recognise. A night's viewing will be a smorgasbord of free to air, YouTube, downloaded movies, friends' Facebooks, cute kittens and celebrities. Advertising will be an increasingly specialised skill as the ability to pick out your widely spread audience becomes a dark art. We won't even have the sanity of the ABC to turn to after the budget gutting has done with it.
We do know that with the billions invested in media like YouTube and Netflix, the content and its promotion is going to get increasingly polished. Nevertheless, prepare for a brave new video world.
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