TV's Future Looks Like Web's Present†

Forrester says targeted ads and a portal-like menu of options are coming to your set

Adweek, August 27, 2008 — TV advertising is poised to change dramatically over the next decade, embracing the kind of targeting and user control already common on the Web, according to a new report by Forrester Research. Forrester lays out a decade-long evolution that will ultimately result in most programming delivered on-demand with targeted ad messages based on location and behavior, along with community functions.

NBCU, Nielsen Team on New Sales Measure†

Partnership Will Cull Data from TV Ratings, Online Video Streaming, Consumer Activity

Advertising Age, June 2, 2008 — NBC Universal and Nielsen have decided to collaborate on new sales measures using data from TV ratings, online video streaming and consumer activity based on specific industry categories. It's just the latest step by a TV network to cobble together information for advertisers that goes beyond the typical reach-and-frequency ratings that have been the benchmark of the business for decades.

The two companies said their alliance is designed to "move advertising sales beyond traditional demographic data" and promote the development of new sales and marketing measures.

Another Piece That Aims to Solve ROI Puzzle†

MediaVest Partners With TRA to Connect Dots Between TV Ads and Shopping Habits

Advertising Age, April 23, 2008 — Publicis Groupe's MediaVest is partnering with a market-research company to answer advertising's million-dollar question: Do TV ads make consumers go out and buy products?

TRA, a media market research company, has developed a new technology that matches the advertising households receive with the products those households actually buy.

The partnership comes as the precise measurability of online advertising is putting TV under increasing pressure to show marketers a return on their investment, and as marketers are demanding more metrics to justify spending on TV.

TV Learning Importance of Targeting†

Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2008 — The advertising industry has long had a hunch that consumers are more apt to watch a television commercial if they actually are in the market for the product or service being pitched. Now, they have some evidence.

A 16-month study by cable company Comcast and Starcom MediaVest, a media firm owned by Publicis Groupe, found that households that had ads targeted to them were about a third less likely to change the channel than those that were shown traditional ads.

Web vs. TV: Research Aims to Gauge Ads†

Goals Include Finding Optimal Mix of Media and Long-Term Results

Wall Street Journal, March 19, 2008 — When marketers buy ads on the Web, they can track everything from the number of clicks an ad receives from a certain ZIP Code to how long a person watches a video clip on a specific site.

But while those metrics help marketers gauge how successfully online ads lead to purchases in the short term, they don't reveal how the ads affect a brand's image over longer periods. And they don't help marketers compare an online ad's impact with that of a television ad.

Point and Click—at Your TV

Backchannel takes a remote shot at that elusive prize: profitable interactive television

BusinessWeek, March 10, 2008 — Michael Kokernak has been unhealthily gripped by a very specific obsession for more than 10 years. Fortunately, his fixed stare is trained on something socially acceptable, even though it may not make for scintillating party chat.

Since 1997, Kokernak has immersed himself in the arcana of making advertising accountable, and, more recently, in how to fuse TV ads with the measurable, click-here-now aspects of the Web. Kokernak is the founder and co-CEO of Boston-based Backchannelmedia. The company peddles technology that, to oversimplify somewhat, flashes on TV ads and programs small onscreen tokens that are "clickable" with a standard remote control, à la Web ads.

Serving Up Television Without the TV Set

Watching television online is now a common activity for millions, with one in four Internet users watching a full-length show online in the last three months.

New York Times, March 10, 2008 — The “stupid computer” is a repeated target of the dimwitted office manager Michael Scott on “The Office.” But the show itself may be motivating viewers to put down their remote controls and pick up their laptops.

When the fourth season of “The Office,” an NBC comedy, had its premiere in September, one in five viewings was on a computer screen instead of a television. The episode attracted a broadcast audience of 9.7 million people, according to Nielsen Media Research. It was also streamed from the Web 2.7 million times in one week, the executive producer, Greg Daniels, said.

“The Office” is on the leading edge of a sharp shift in entertainment viewing that was thought to be years away: watching television episodes on a computer screen... continue reading

Marketers Losing Confidence in TV†

ANA TV and Technology Survey Finds Advertisers Looking for Better Metrics, Better Formats

Advertising Age, February 20, 2008 — Whether traditional TV advertising has truly lost its power, marketers and advertisers are already eager to find alternatives. The Association of National Advertisers and Forrester Research's fourth biennial TV and Technology survey shows a dramatic loss of confidence in the medium as the industry gears up to explore new ad formats and forms of video commercials.

Indeed, two thirds of the C-level-executive respondents said they are watching the medium closely, up from just half two years ago, and 87% of respondents said they were going to be spending more on web ads in the coming year

Fine-Tuning Cable Audiences†

Software monitors favored viewers, shifts commercials

Wall Street Journal, November 26, 2007 — When real-estate company RE/MAX International advertises with local cable operators, it typically asks them to air its commercials during home-improvement shows like A&E's "Flip This House" and HGTV's "House Hunters." The idea is that viewers of such programs may also be in the market to buy or sell a house. Such logic makes sense, but advertisers these days are demanding more precision, and getting the technology to do it.

In Foray Into TV, Google Is to Track Ad Audiences

Google plans to announce a partnership with Nielsen to give advertisers a better snapshot of how many people are viewing television commercials on a second-by-second basis.

New York Times, October 25, 2007 — Google, which dominates the market for advertising on the Internet, seems to be hoping to do the same thing on television.

The company is set to announce a partnership today with the Nielsen Company, the voice of authority in measuring television audiences, that will give advertisers a more vivid and accurate snapshot than ever before of how many people are viewing commercials on a second-by-second basis, and who those people are.