Media

Before DR clients can or should be "convinced" of anything, the industry has to solve some key issues in order to make online video advertising profitable for them. Otherwise, what the client ends up facing is a series of small budget and, likely, unsuccessful test campaigns that prove to be nothing more than a waste of everyone's time.

In the latest in a string of acquisitions aimed at expanding its digital advertising services, Microsoft said that it was buying Navic Networks, a maker of television advertising technology.

Spot Runner today announced that global media leaders Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) and Grupo Televisa, along with renowned institutions Legg Mason Capital Management* and Groupe Arnault/LVMH, as well as existing investors have made equity investments in the company totaling $51 million. “These strategic investments serve as a strong validation of Spot Runner’s technology-driven advertising model, as well as the results we have generated for advertisers and media owners,” said Nick Grouf, chairman and CEO of Spot Runner. “This further accelerates our momentum as we expand into a broader spectrum of online and offline media, both domestically and abroad.”

As it does with its AdWords search system, Google plans to sell spots based not only on price but on how well an ad performs. Better-quality advertising -- advertising the audience deems most relevant -- will be rewarded, as marketers will pay less for the same spot. Lower-quality advertising -- the ads deemed less relevant by consumers -- will acquire higher media bills. Simply put, Google's TV Ads could go a long way toward answering who is responsible for bringing viewers in and who is responsible for retaining viewers, the network or the advertiser?

When it comes to the 2008-09 upfront advertising selling season, cable is “better-positioned” than broadcast, according to Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen.Reif Cohen, presenting both “bull-case” and “bear-case” scenarios, forecasts that cable’s take in the annual Madison Avenue bazaar, during which networks sell commercial time for the upcoming TV season, could fall somewhere between $7.45 billion and $8.06 billion.“We expect cable networks to materially outperform the broadcast nets, increasing commitments 5% in our bull-case scenario and falling 3% in our bear-case scenario,” Reif Cohen wrote in the report titled, What Happens If The Upfront Is Down A Lot.

Broadcast TV networks' upfront advertising sales will be down this year, posting a drop of between 2% and 14%, a leading Wall Street analyst said.

A "material decline is probable given ratings declines, the disruption in the development cycle due to the recent writers' strike and economic woes," Jessica Reif Cohen of Merrill Lynch said in a report published yesterday.

Google TV Ads is a flexible, all-digital system for buying more accountable and measurable TV advertising. Using the familiar AdWords interface, you can launch a TV advertising campaign in minutes.

iMedia Connection is an excellent news and analysis site, but I take issue with a recent post that I actually mostly agree with. My gripe is that online evangelists keep claiming that performance analytics are new. The post's title is "The Rise of Performance-Based advertising." Rise? DRTV has measured sales response for decades. The subhead promises "the inside scoop on this new model." New? Please. DRTV agencies have played their part in marketing too, folks!

We know what everyone calls TiVo users: ad skippers. So what should we call Video On Demand users? Ad-oholics? In Los Angeles, Adlink just finished a campaign in which traditional 30 second commercials drove traffic to cable viewers' On Demand menus. Prospective car buyers could then choose to watch lengthier videos from a luxury dealership. In four weeks, viewers demanded to see advertising 4500 times. Not earth-shattering, but not bad for a city of ad skippers.

HSN has been airing interactive advertising on the satellite TV services. The ads look like traditional 30-second commercials, but they're enhanced with an interactive button. Click the button with your remote, and voila, you're watching HSN. The Tampa Tribune points out that this sort of thing could come to annoy the networks on which you place ads, but how's this for 2.0 Marketing? Advertisers might actually be willing to pay more if networks lose enough viewers (to their interactive click-throughs, of course).