Publicis Chief predicts the end of free digital media

Publicis CEO Maurice Levy forecast a new era of the Internet and predicted the end of banner ads, the need to pay for content and said that advertising would not be able to pay for the continued expansion of digital media as it had with TV and publications.  No kidding!  The prediction continued with a forecast for a wealth of new intuitive and interactive features (I guess he was promoting their new web site).  Social networks also came under the gun with valuation questions and long term viability.

Certainly shows an opportunity for web 3.0 thinking and emphasized the need for metrics and targeting and probably the need to look again at how we do things manually and then replicate and improve on them in the connected digital world.  The big question is the fusion of creativity, process and technology and Im back to thinking the techies have the upper hand here and the agencies much to lose.  Frankly, the ad industry has been way behind the curve with trend forecasts for the Internet – maybe the bean counters are now starting to see how new media has impacted the bottom line and want to be earlier into the next wave!

Sony discuss Internet TV strategy for Europe with Ovum Research

Ovum recently summarized a briefing they attended on Sony’s European TV strategy.  Basically its splits into Video on Demand (VOD) service via the PlayStation Network and an Internet video strategy that provides catch-up broadcast TV content.  The content line-up is looking impressive with deals made with most of the big players in European broadcasting plus deals with popular sites such at YouTube and Dailymotion.

Roll-out is starting but the launch of Bravia Internet Video disc players, TVs and home theater devices in the first half of 2010 really set the strategy in action.

The challenge of quality of video services continues to be an unanswered question with Internet TV but VOD downloads should work and offer competition to satellite, IPTV and cable operators.  2010 may very well be the year interactive TV really happens!

Cable TV boosts ad sales and gets serious about interactive advertising

Good news from Cablevision last week with COO Tom Rutledge talking about an increase in advertising revenues for the quarter.  His comments pointed to an uplift in the economy and the introduction of interactive advertising into the revenue mix.   The company said Tuesday that ad revenue rose by 18 percent in the third quarter from a year ago, with strength seen in its cable networks AMC, IFC and WE tv.

Its new interactive ads, where viewers use their remote to order free product samples, coupons and others from advertisers, are doing well. Cablevision said a two-week Gillette ad campaign offering a free sample ran out of freebies after the first week.

The key message I took away from the announcement was his comment relating to interactive advertising pricing, “the interesting thing about what we have from a technological perspective is that we can actually determine the effectiveness of advertising and price it accordingly.”

Wow cable is really coming into the digital and interactive arena!

Google – from science to creative

A recent WSJ article by Jessica Vascellaro highlights a major shift for Google from the science of search into creative for online ads and new tools for advertisers.

Big advertisers such as Hewlett Packard and Ford Motor Co along with JC Penney and PepsiCo are all actively working with Google on new online ad initiatives.  David Roman, a marketing vice president for H-P’s personal systems group, says Google recently helped it with a new Internet ad campaign.  As part of the campaign, Google engineers built a tool that allowed people to upload and edit their own video clips.  Mr. Roman declined to comment on the cost of H-P’s ad campaign, but says it was the most the personal systems group has spent with Google on a campaign. H-P shelled out nearly $58 million on Internet display ads in the U.S. in 2008, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

With the acquisitions of YouTube and DoubleClick, Google has huge space for non-search ads and it looks like Google is installing a team that can develop and run campaigns working directly with the client or via their agencies.

Accenture enters the digital marketing world

Accenture announced their Intelligent Digital Platform offering which includes the technical infrastructure (hardware, software, support) and the design and development services needed to create a fully outsourced web marketing operation.  P&G has decided to work with Accenture.  The latter two sentences put all agencies on notice.  If marketing cannot handle technology – technology will handle marketing.  We saw it with Google – who would have thought no creative and search would have such an impact on the world of advertising.  Now we are seeing major players like Accenture and Deloitte getting into marketing services under the banner of digital.  Time to stop paying lip service to new media and rolling up our marketing sleeves to make technology and creative and analytics work as a team!

Consumers warm to interactive TV

A new Ernst & Young report says that consumers like the concept of widgets (mini-applications docked at the bottom or side of the TV screen) and web-enabled TVs.  A Diffusion Group survey found 76% of consumers believe having a widget dock on their primary TV set would be valuable.  The main reason for the widget was to find specific TV content (a feature that has been available on DVRs for some time) and content that is no longer readily available.  There are some business model challenges to contend with here.  The widget could potentially be running competitive ads at the same time as the live TV program but I believe some decent scheduling software would address these concerns.  Samsung, LG and Sony have all started building TV sets with Yahoo’s widget software already installed.

Verizon working with Ad Council to deploy cross-platform advertising

Congratulations to John Harrobin at Verizon for taking the initiative to approach the Ad Council.  The two organizations have worked together to expand the reach of a public service message to teens.  The informational campaign is running across FiOS TV, Verizon mobile and FiOS Internet.  At last we are actually seeing some innovative thinking and pushing the envelope!  I am looking forward to hearing the results and challenges if Verizon and the Ad Council choose to share them.

Cable is moving in interactive – are there paddles in Canoe?

Cablevision announced cautious roll out of interactive services in New York area and Comcast is dipping its feet in the water in Chicago. Time Warner has several initiatives and then there is Canoe. The latest news on Canoe Ventures is an alliance with a graduate advertising program. While this is forward thinking and a way to nurture new applications and innovations, will Canoe start to take a lead on new interactive applications or be a lumbering body that plays catch-up as the industry forges ahead?

TV explores new interactive applications

Saul Hansell in the New York Times discusses the new approaches TV is making into the interactive age. DirecTV and Fios have both announced app stores modeled on Apple’s App Store. Pilots proved out that the user wants to interact at certain times when in front of the TV – so its not totally lean back, lean forward…. right! Now we have the potential for real traction in interactive with the cable companies backing a standard to enable applications nationally and the telcos launching TV services. The key challenges are still – what does the user want and how do we make money from new applications? It looks like revenue share is up for grabs again and both sides on slowly moving into interaction. 2010 – the year the TV goes interactive? comments welcome.

Let the games begin – cable start charging for web content

Time Warner and Comcast – two industry cable giants have announced an ambitious pilot program to charge subscribers for viewing TV content on the web.  Not sure where this leaves the Hulu business model – maybe it becomes a primer and short form video place to visit.  The words walled garden creep into mind again with cable looking to keep control of its subscribers wherever they view programming.  Looking forward to watching this space emerge.