The ultimate success of prime-time television at attention capture, as measured in Nielsen ratings and the effects of TV advertising, would shape every subsequent contest in the market for attention; all future claimants would have to mold themselves as an alternative to TV, with profound consequences for those in the new technologies, the attention economy, and necessarily for most Americans. For television was now, as it still in many ways remains, attention’s 800-pound gorilla. With the clearest and most engaging access to the public mind, it could exercise the greatest influence and therefore command the lion’s share of advertising revenue.

Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, loc. 471