The post-PC audience that will access the Internet via wireless devices, interactive television and Internet kiosks, will reach critical mass by 2005, although the PC will continue to dominate with a 74 per cent Internet household penetration and 68 per cent Internet individual penetration, according to a report released recently by Jupiter Research.
Jupiter analysts expect advertisers will be slow to allocate dollars for campaigns on post-PC platforms as they struggle to gain and control the key benefits of advertising on these devices. Jupiter analysts advise marketers targeting the post-PC audience to view them as "modal targets" -- or distinct groups of individuals with similar behaviors and attitudes that stem closely from their use of any Internet-enabled device -- as opposed to the more common audience segmentation characteristics of demographics geography and gender.
Marketers that believe they can overcome the limitations of interactive and wireless devices as branding vehicles miss the point, Jupiter analysts explained. To maximise ad campaigns on these devices, advertisers must isolate and understand the attributes of modal targets and match the marketing message to the objectives of the consumer using the device -- not their demographic profiles. Post-PC ad opportunities are a need-to-have for a few categories of advertisers and only a nice-to-have for most.