The shift from mass media to fragmented channels
Launch library · evergreen read
There was a period when reaching a national audience meant securing coverage or advertising space across a genuinely small number of outlets, and a campaign that succeeded there had, by definition, reached most of the audience worth reaching. That concentration made planning simpler, even if it also made it less precise.
As channels multiplied and audiences dispersed across them, the same broad reach became far harder to achieve through any single placement. Reaching a comparable audience now typically requires a coordinated presence across many smaller channels rather than a handful of dominant ones. This change happened gradually enough that many planning habits built for the earlier era persisted well after the underlying media landscape had already moved on.
This fragmentation traded simplicity for precision. Campaigns lost the ability to assume broad reach from a small number of decisions, but gained the ability to target specific audiences far more accurately than the mass media era ever allowed, a trade that has reshaped nearly every aspect of campaign planning since.