THE STRENGTHS OF TV IN A DIGITAL WORLD

The Emotional Connection

The media scholar Marshall McLuhan is famous for stating, ldquo;TV is a cool medium. rdquo; Without burying ourselves into the minutiae of his theories, he argued TV is cool because it requires more audience participation than a hot medium, such as radio, where only one sense is utilized.

With TV, more of the senses are needed to connect with the content and it is the overwhelming experience and effect of how the audience uses TV that also makes it the most emotional medium.

At a fundamental level, emotions drive most humans rsquo; decisions ndash; including their decisions as consumers. The conscious decision to buy a product or service is the beginning of the purchase funnel and TV is the best ad medium to make the initial emotional connection with consumers who want to fulfill a need.