14The Role of Global Advertising
Rapid and extreme changes in global media, particularly in terms of technology, have meant that the advertising industry has been faced with new global challenges. The Times of London reported in 2017 that “Global internet advertising is due this year to overtake television finally to become the world's biggest medium, an industry forecast predicted.”1 The same paper noted in a different article the same year that advertising was changing so fast that “the traditional ad market is in crisis.”2
The shift to web‐based media has profoundly affected all aspects of advertising. The resultant changes include the following:
- Online retail sales are facilitated by web‐based search services, both general and specific in nature. The biggest search entity, Google, has in recent years become increasingly oriented toward shopping and advertising.
- Enormous online retailers, such as China‐based Alibaba and US‐based Amazon, facilitate e‐commerce and so‐called “e‐tail” sales.
- Working hand‐in‐hand with the latter, various electronic payment systems have arisen, largely to support online sales, such as Alibaba's Alipay and Apple's Apple Pay.
- Advertising methods have changed radically due to the introduction of global media's shift to new technological options.
- The largest traditional advertising agencies have faced new challenges as they have attempted to adapt to increasingly global and web‐oriented media.
- Online advertising has dramatically matured. Both media ...
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