The Stages of Media - Evolution to Revolution

The table above represents a perspective of how media has changed over the years. It shows an “evolution” of media as it transitioned from Traditional media to New media. Following New media it shows how media was revolutionized as it entered a Digital status.

Prior to the 1990s, media was seen as “Traditional”. It was before the Internet took place and technology started to digitalize media, as we knew it.

Traditional media was generally delivered to the public through a broadcast. Newspapers, Radio and TV channels managed to reach the masses. This form of media also did not have a specific target audience. The main channels were TV, Radio and Print media.

The first companies to be seen as traditional media include Time Warner, Disney and CBC. If you look at the mentioned companies today, you can imagine the drastic changes or “evolution” that each one went through in regards to new media.

The main business model of Traditional Media was through subscription and brand advertising. That was the main concern and main way of getting their image to the public.

The content delivery was seen in a “push” form. By “push” they just constantly pushed out their media content to their consumers.

Consumers had few choices in regards to what to look at. There was a lack of variations in topics.

Traditional Media went through a slow and steady pace of growth.

But eventual there was an evolution, and in the 1990s traditional media became “New” media.

“New” media first came to be in the 1990s. Their delivery was more narrowcast. This is due to the open options of being able to specify their audience more.

As technology changed, so did the main channels that “New” media used to reach their audience. The main channels used were cable, satellite radio, and specialty magazines.

Keep in mind, the changes do not mean that previous channels became obsolete. They are obviously still used today, but in different ways.

Companies that are recognized for using New Media include HBO, Primedia, and Comcast.

The “New” media business model relied heavily on subscription. People subscribed to receive their services.

Like Traditional Media, New Media also had a “push” approach in regards to content delivery. However, their consumers now had many choices in regards to topics.

New Media had an accelerated growth pace. Which is extremely visible due to the fact that media revolutionized in the 2000s.

Digital Media emerged in the 200s. Their target audience was targeted, unlike the previous two eras. Their main channels were the Internet and Mobile Phones. Today we walk around with smart devices on us at all times, allowing digital media to reach us at any time or place.

Examples of companies that dominated digital media are Google and Yahoo.

Unlike the previous two eras, digital media has a “pull” approach in regards to content delivery. Because of their infinite choices, consumers are pulled to digital media. People can now find topics they are interested and ignore anything else.

The growth pace of digital media is rapid.

As we can clearly see today, digital media is on a constant incline. There are new changes on a yearly bases that manage to continuously change the way that we interact with the media.

A huge example should be printed newspapers. People believe that they only continue to exist out of habit for the previous generations. A majority of the people revert to the online versions of news outlets to gain information.

There are many known TV channels that started off as radio channels. Whenever a new media outlet comes to place, old ones adapt to stay used. People who grew up pre 2000 notice this more. There are so any objects that have become obsolete due to the advances in technology.