The power of TV: more Dutch than Louis XIV

I should be a TV-sceptic. I barely watch TV myself (DVDs and iPlayer being my preferred form of entertainment). I spend too much time online. I have too many internet enabled devices (work portable, personal portable, work Blackberry, personal Blackberry, desktop PC, iPad – power charger manufacturers must love me).

And yet…

When I get the occasional phone call from the BBC saying, “Would you be free to come on the News Channel…”, it still gives me a kick that an email inviting me to pen a guest blog post doesn’t.

And it’s not just me. When I do from time to time appear on TV there’s usually a flurry of comments – whether on Twitter, Facebook, email or text message of variants on “Mark’s on the TV!” Those come even from friends who see me on TV on and off over the months.

It’s because there is still a certain magic about the TV screen. And, even in this multi-channel multi-tasking times, TV commands a big audience.

These days TV may be a more modest king of the media landscape than it used to be, more modern cycling Dutch monarch than traditional Louis XIV pomp. But the republican activists of the social media generation haven’t yet consigned it to history.

It has large audiences. It has the emotional power of pictures. It appears in an increasing number of places beyond simply the TV in your front room. And it drives much social media content.