I recently pulled media consultant, producer, author and Vaughn Street friend Phil Cooke aside to chat about the future of large TV platforms. Here are some highlights from our interview…

Given the news of long time TV legend Oprah calling it quits, is this a sign of the times with traditional TV outlets gearing up for more change?

Oprah is just one of the many warning signs that the media world is going through a massive period of disruption. While the invention of radio didn’t displace movies, and the invention of TV didn’t displace radio, I don’t think the Internet will displace traditional broadcast television. Ultimately, each medium finds its own unique niche with audiences. It doesn’t go away, but the media landscape is altered in significant ways. A ratings company has already started competing with the Nielson Ratings service by evaluating prime time programs based on “online conversations.” For instance, they discovered a significant audience watches programs like Keifer Sutherland’s “24″ on a TV set while talking to their friends about the show on their computer. That tells me the future of broadcast television is creating programs that are provocative enough to get people talking online. I’m telling my clients to learn how to embrace chaos and disruption because change is here and it’s not going away.

What changes should large TV ministries be prepared for in 2010? Do they only have 5 years left of grabbing network viewers?

My opinion is that we have 10-15 years left for the donors that built the major Christian ministries we see today. However, that demographic group is already shrinking significantly, so we’re already seeing a real slide. That was the donor audience who supported the great ministries of our era like Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, built universities like Oral Roberts and Regent Universities, planted massive missions outreaches, and helped expand the traditional radio and TV stations and networks that exist today on a global basis. However, along with the media revolution we’re also seeing a donor revolution. The former donor base that was focused on giving for expansion – particularly building projects – is now being replaced by a generation more interested in great causes. Tomorrow’s donors are more focused on building water wells in Africa, redeeming slaves in the Sudan, or helping the homeless here in America. The question that hasn’t been answered yet is how to convert them from passionate supporters to actual givers. On that subject, the jury is still out. After all, this is the generation that grew up on Napster, and believes everything online should be free. It will take some time to change those expectations.

According to the Booz Study, Marketing and Media Platform 2010, the “channels that will garner the most new ad dollars from marketers by 2010 will be digital media, with 88% planning to increase their spending; mobile media (52% will increase spending); public relations (41% will increase spending); and events (35% will increase spending). Meanwhile, 50% of marketers will cut print spending and 40% will cut TV spending.” What brand strategies are you advising clients to roll out for the New Year?

Along with our work at Cooke Pictures focused on non-profits, churches, and ministries, I’m also a founding partner in TWC Film – a television commercial production company that produced two Super Bowl commercials in 2008. So I’m very intimately (perhaps “painfully”) involved in the shift that’s happening with advertising spending. There’s a disrupted market in advertising today, and numerous advertising agencies and production companies have shut their doors in the last year. However, I keep going back to the evolution of media from the turn of the last century. Changes happen and media evolves – we just need to stay ahead of the change. It’s easier said than done, but if we can stay tuned into the culture, look ahead for how technology is changing how we communicate, and not panic, we’ll find our way through this and get to the other side. This is an issue I blog frequently about on my site at philcooke.com.

Now that it is more difficult to tell a story because of people’s time and attention in so many places, what can TV ministries do to still captivate viewers?

Listen. Listen. Listen. The millennial generation grew up picking the next American Idol by texting on their cell phone. Hollywood has learned to listen to this generation and it’s resulted in massive hits like ABC’s “Lost”. With the advent of the Internet, media has become a two way conversation, and a new audience wants to be part of the story. When I was young, media was one-way. I grew up with 3 TV networks and was thrilled with whatever they sent down the tube. But today’s audience wants to be interactive. They want a voice in the conversation, and in my opinion, this is the greatest media shift since the invention of the printing press. It will impact media, business, politics, education, and even worship. Start listening to your audience and make them part of the conversation.

With online audiences, storytelling is becoming harder to do…people are merely reading headlines. Most large brands are incorporating stories from actual customers. Does this ring true for branding faith?

Absolutely. In my experience with direct response marketing projects like infomercials, phone calls spike up during testimonies. My theory is that you can talk forever about a product, but when you actually see the story of someone who bought it and how it impacted his life, you think, “If it worked for that guy, it will work for me.” I believe that storytelling is part of our DNA – it’s the way we’ve made sense of the world since the beginning of mankind. Someone once said that there have been civilizations that survived without the wheel, but no civilization has survived without stories. The truth is, no matter how technology changes, we will never lose the need to express ourselves through stories. After all, Jesus only had a few years of adult ministry, and he needed to share a message that would change the world. So what did he do? He didn’t write a book of theology, a doctrinal manual, or a book on church growth. He told stories – many of which he never explained. Jesus understood the incredible power of storytelling and it’s ability to transform people’s lives. It’s a lesson we could stand to be reminded of today.