Cee Mee – Cee Who – Cee What

I got into interactive TV in the late 1990′s.  I was so happy Canoe Ventures took up the challenge of interactive advertising  (though they now seem to be dropping interactive TV) and conducted some research but I just read the report that was posted – very light.  We are talking about 4,000 televisionaries and results around their tests and experiences.  The market for this in USA alone is 115 million -  4,000 does not seem a big enough sample.  Why aren’t more brands and agencies getting into this?  Canoe Ventures got some $150 million to make some headway into the new media world for the cable industry.  I sincerely hope there is a more detailed report somewhere.  Love the concept but feel we are missing the Internet, mobile, ipad and tablets and user interaction with TV +++

Smart TV – is this the year it really happens?

Xbox’s latest dashboard with kinect – setting a new bar for smart TV – CES saw LG launching a wand remote and Samsung was promoting limited voice and motion control embedded TVs.  Samsung is also offering Kinect-like gesture recognition and lots of content options.  It also launched its own AdHub connected TV advertising services.  Premium Interactive Advertising (PIA) is Samsung’s very first ad initiative for its Smart TV platform with functions like click to microsite, click to video etc.  Google TV has been working with traditional broadcasters to manage their advertising inventory and has been making head-roads in the cable industry (CoxMedia looks like a recent win).  the current estimate of SmartTV’s in 2011 was 12 million (Strategy Analytics) with the USA having a penetration of only 8% while EU  stands at 7%.  Digital TV Research forecasts that it will take until 2016 for there to be a global penetration of 20% in connected TV services – with devices ranging from games consoles to set top boxes.

 

Canoe starting to paddle?

Canoe Ventures CEO, David Verklin, revealed at the National Association of Television Programming Executives (NATPE), that seven networks will allow advertisers to run interactive TV ads in over 20 million cable households in about 90 days, according to a report by MediaPost’s David Goetzl. Comcast-owned E! and Style and Cablevision-owned AMC are already selling a Canoe-developed platform enabling RFI spots, while Bravo, Discovery, History and USA will offer the platform by early summer, Verklin said. Verklin also stated that Canoe plans to add DirecTV and DISH Network households to its footprint of ITV advertising-enabled households; and he said that Canoe expects to roll out an ITV polling app by the end of summer that will offer sponsorship opportunities.

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.