ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates the advertising industry’s discussions about audiences and consumers were equally informed by the technology-related factors as well as their own needs, challenges, and anxieties. It reveals the relationship between the advertising industry and the consumer during this period was symbiotic, it also shows that this was neither an even relationship nor a static one. Finding and connecting with the consumer would require the advertising industry to pay closer attention to consumer demographics. As advertisers and their agencies began to look beyond demographics, they began to see new ‘niche’ markets. The trends documented by market research in the digital space informed the advertising industry that it needed to pay much more attention to the consumer. While consumers had long enjoyed individual advertisements and commercials, their overall view of advertising was more negative, drawing on the sense that advertising was becoming all-pervasive along with the fears that the advertising industry was using devious strategies to dupe audiences.
