This is the summary of an article by Steve McClellan and Brian Morrissey. Here’s the link to the original behavioral targeting article: The Future of TV.
Cable television is becoming less popular, and instead of watching tv programs on, well, tv, viewers opt to just watch them online, in YouTube or Hulu for example. In addition, Microsoft, Google and other Internet players are planning on entering the television business. Advertisers are now given a new advertising platform in the internet.
TV to Introduce Targeted Adveritising
In response, huge television companies plan to integrate the measurability and targeting capabilities of ads that are displayed online with the branding power of television. One particular company, Canoe Ventures, is working on creating a national platform for interactive and addressable targeted advertising.
To increase inventory effectiveness for advertises, and deal with the problem of wasteful mass advertising, the future TV’s will be interactive, flexible and measurable. It will work like the world wide web.
Video is a very powerful advertising tool, and it will be more powerful if the viewers who see the ads will not dismiss them as being annoying, but will actually respond to them by making impressions. That’s the motivation of a certain Project Canoe: six of the major cable companies found in the United States felt the need to collaborate with a joint venture to provide targeted television ads to their viewers.
Too Little Too Late?
According to Tim Hanlon, from Publicis Groupe’s VivaKi, it may be a little too late for cable companies to deliver targeted ads, because online videos are getting more popular and they are practically more in line with targeted video ads.
On the other hand, Canoe Ventures CEO David Verklin, stated that there’s a lot of work to do indeed, but the timing for them is perfect; that the platform will be scalable at this point in time.
Using the DVR
To pursue this platform for targeted ads on Television, the DVR will be used. It is already in 28 percent of American homes, and will be used to target individualized ads. It also allows users to pause a program and use interactive ads. Ironically, so far, 60-70 percent of DVR users skip out the ads.
Web Meets TV
The huge internet companies find their future in television. They are driven by the money obtained from advertisement, by which the largest channels for video advertisements are found in television. For now, Microsoft and Google have only taken short steps toward Television. Google has been acquiring television viewer data, while Microsoft has bought a technology company which makes it easier for operators to sell targeted advertisements on television. Google has signed deals with NBC Universal and Dish Network, while Microsoft’s Navic software is already being used by Dish Network, Charter, Time Warner cable, and Cox communications
The Next Top Model
Jeff Zucker, CEO of Universal, once said that conservative TV has no desire to “trade analog dollars for digital pennies.” But in the future, there will lots of other advertising formats in play aside from the usual commercial breaks that we are accustomed to.
There are still several unanswered questions for the future TV, including the currency model for the sellers and buyers of these ads, and who will be the dominating players for this future television.
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