Dan Douglass on direct

Dan Douglass

Last Week, Campaign’s editorial stance echoed the views of its columnist Russell Davies: ‘The Digital Revolution is over and done’. The battle’s finished. ‘Digital won’. End of’. Lord Carter’s Digital Britain Report, published today, is further reinforcement if any were needed, that it's not just the battle but the war that's over and done. 'Digital Britain' shows clear intent and total commitment to a digital future. For Gordon Brown, The Report will stand as one of the rare visionary successes on his watch (to rank alongside his G8 leading record on the millennium goals and his international leadership of the financial crisis). It will herald a sea-change in the way Britons consume digital media. For too long there has been a disparity between online access (60% of UK households) and the relative lack of interest (42% of adults have no use or desire for broadband). Currently only 6% of online users watch television on the web. And yet video clips, mainly from YouTube and i-player programmes, account for more than a third of all broadband traffic. So now the coast is clear. As satellite broadband reaches 100% of the UK population, as costs go down and speeds increase, and as Lord Carter forces public services broadcasters to share their assets to make quality content more widely available online, so the sheer ubiquity, ease of use and convenience of the web will make it the medium of choice for mainstream consumers of programming and advertising. And, most significantly, that includes the offline majority – that army of digital immigrants and refuseniks who have up until now rejected any stake in a digital future. This is the way the tide is flowing for consumers, agencies and clients. And that tide is moving fast. To pretend otherwise is to behave like a Canute.