But nothing has surprised me more than the prevailing attitude that online media has sounded the death knell for TV advertising.
Look past the more alarmist headlines surrounding ITV's recent results announcement and you'll find some impressive facts. In 2007, against somewhat hysterical predictions about the demise of traditional media and the rise of the internet, ITV held its net broadcast advertising revenue year on year. Across our digital channels revenue rose by 33%. And for the first quarter of this year, revenue across the ITV family of channels is up by almost 2% for the first time since the millennium. By anyone's criteria, that is not evidence of a medium in decline.
The arrival of any new medium is always predicted to be the death of the old, but it just doesn't happen. If it did you wouldn't be reading this magazine. The internet will no more kill off television than television killed off cinema. There is room for both and advertisers are increasingly learning that the most effective way to use traditional and new media is to use them together.
In recent years, advertisers have been experimenting with, and often misusing, online opportunities. At the same time, media owners have been doing the same and everyone has learnt lessons. Media owners increasingly understand how to use online to actually enhance their offering to advertisers rather than just bolting on a website as an afterthought. And advertisers are learning how to use online effectively. Yes, nearly one million people may have viewed Cadbury's brilliant gorilla ad on YouTube, but only after there had been 56 million viewings of it on TV.
If the much talked about economic downturn does happen - and I have to say that, from where I sit, the messages are very mixed - then advertisers will revert to tried and tested media. If consumer spending is squeezed, we'll all be affected, but my prediction is that television and print will prove surprisingly resilient. But the sooner we understand that online is complementary to television and print, rather than a substitute for it, the better.
- Rupert Howell is managing director of brand and commercial, ITV.
A view from Rupert Howell
Television can exist alongside the might of the web
Many things have surprised me since my arrival at ITV - the extent and scope of the BBC's commercial activities, the continued and outdated over-regulation of the industry, that digital switchover has to all intents and purposes already happened, and that Ant and Dec don't really look anything alike once you get to know them.