For more than half a century, direct mail has competed with print and broadcasting media for a share of total advertising expenditures. Novel electronic alternatives have emerged more recently. Are the new forms of competition having an effect on direct mail’s share of marketing spending, and how might they change the competitive landscape in the future?
New media are said to be altering the competitive landscape of advertising by leveraging new technologies. A key question for the mailing industry is, how are these new media affecting demand for direct mail and other print-based media?
As the Internet exploded, initial adoption rates suggested that electronic media would eventually command the lion’s share of advertising expenditures and, in particular, threaten paper-based media such as print and direct mail. Later, as Internet advertising became better understood, some observers began to indicate that the new technologies might actually preserve and complement the traditional media.
http://www.dmnews.com/pdffiles/electronic.pdf
