The Shift

1997 was a breakthrough year for The Spice Girls. It was the year they made their live concert debut and released a feature film, Spice World, both to commercial success. At the time Geri was 24, Mel C and Victoria both 23, Mel B 22 and Emma 21. Now they have 12 kids between them. A lot has happen in the intervening 27 years, particularly when it comes to the mass media and how most of us consume and share information.

1997 was also the year McLaren launched their new Formula One car to much fanfare. On 13th February the West McLaren Mercedes MP4/12 was unveiled at the Alexandra Palace in London to an assembled audience of five thousand comprising the motor racing and tabloid media, sponsors, VIP guests and fans of the team. Musical entertainment was provided by The Spice Girls and Jamiroquai.

For this spectacle, I was helping to run a rudimentary livestream event at the back of the room. We are talking about a pre-digital photography moment in time. To publish photos of the new car online we were reliant on a press photographer developing his film in the kitchen of Alexandra Palace and giving us an image to scan and upload to the McLaren website. We used a primitive modem to facilitate the process.

In many ways I have been at the forefront of web design and development ever since. For instance, in 2001 I worked on a £7 million web project for BP which involved an amorphous team of 70 consultants, information architects, graphic designers, developers and project managers.

Year on year I have witnessed huge changes in both technological advancement and consumer behaviour. Right now, I sense we are on the brink of an another significant metamorphosis which sees The Internet becoming far more of a broadcast medium than a published tool. I call this moment The Shift.

Clients don’t need web designers so much these days. They need to collaborate with creative production houses like FilmDuo who understand online brand management as well as all the intricacies of cinemamatic storytelling. It is a new and exciting era.

A transformative moment

The Internet has steadily transformed into a powerful broadcast medium, primarily through the widespread adoption of video content. This shift mirrors the historic transition when television emerged to compete with and eventually supplant print media as the dominant form of mass communication. 

In both instances, a new technology with rich, engaging visual formats captured the public’s attention and reshaped how information and entertainment were consumed.

Print media

Before the advent of television, print media such as newspapers, magazines, and books reigned supreme. Print provided readers with news, entertainment, and knowledge in a primarily text-based format. It allowed people to stay informed, but its reach was limited to those who were literate and had access to physical publications. 

Moreover, the static nature of print meant that stories could only be told through words and still images, which required readers to engage their imagination to visualise what they were reading.

Print media’s slow decline began in the mid-20th century with the arrival of television, which introduced a dynamic visual medium. Unlike print, television delivered real-time stories with moving pictures and sound, making it a much more immersive and accessible platform for storytelling. 

This new broadcast medium reached audiences in their homes, bringing news, entertainment, and culture to life in ways that print simply couldn’t match. The rapid growth of television altered the media landscape forever, causing a shift in audience preferences and changing the way businesses, governments, and individuals communicated.

Text to video

The rise of the Internet in the late 20th century initially mirrored the early dominance of print media. Text-based websites and blogs, much like newspapers and magazines, were the primary source of information on the Internet. Users engaged in online reading, forums, and written communication. However, this phase was only the beginning of the Internet’s evolution.

With the advancement of technology, particularly in bandwidth and compression, the Internet began to support richer media formats. By the mid-2000s, video content began to emerge as a powerful tool for communication and entertainment, marking a turning point. 

Platforms like YouTube, launched in 2005, revolutionised how people consumed and shared content online. The ability to upload, stream, and view video content for free allowed individuals and businesses alike to create their own "broadcasts," bypassing traditional media channels entirely.

Displacement

Just as television reshaped the media landscape by offering a more engaging format than print, video has begun to displace text as the dominant form of content on the Internet. Studies show that users are far more likely to engage with video than with text-based content, as video provides both visual and auditory stimuli, making it more memorable and accessible. Video also allows for more effective storytelling, as it combines elements like sound, imagery, and motion to evoke emotions and convey complex messages more effectively than text alone.

Social media platforms have embraced video content wholeheartedly. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook prioritise video in their algorithms, knowing that video drives more engagement. Live Streaming has also become a major aspect of how the Internet functions as a broadcast medium. Platforms like Twitch, YouTube Live, and Instagram Live allow creators to engage in real-time with audiences worldwide, akin to traditional live television broadcasts.

Broadcast revolution

As the Internet continues to evolve into a full-fledged broadcast medium, the lines between traditional media and digital media are blurring. While television networks once had the power to shape public perception and provide the primary means of video-based entertainment, the Internet has democratised this process. Now, anyone with a smartphone and an Internet connection can be a broadcaster, reaching potentially global audiences.

This shift represents a profound change in the media ecosystem. Just as television overtook print media by offering a more immersive, accessible format, video on the Internet is displacing text and creating new opportunities for engagement, creativity, and communication. Whether through on-demand streaming services, user-generated content, or real-time interactive broadcasts, the Internet’s role as a broadcast medium is only set to grow, much like television did decades ago.

While text remains an important part of the online experience, the gradual rise of video content in the late 2000s and early 2010s - with platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok leading the charge - signals the moment when video supplanted text as the dominant format on the internet.