Television Has a Great Future – Believe it or not

In my last blog posting, “Who’s Killing Television”, I focused most of my remarks on key issues that the Television industry needs to address in short order. At ANA’s Television Advertising Forum yesterday, I reiterated those concerns – and, in fact, added one or two more.

However, despite my concerns, I am, actually, quite optimistic about television’s long-term health and well being. Over time, I believe television will retain its “championship status” as the preferred medium-of-choice by marketers for a number of very important reasons:

* First and foremost, I believe the convergence of high definition TV and the digital power of the Internet will flourish in the years ahead. This is such a “natural” and will lead to a cavalcade of exciting opportunities for all advertisers and marketers. Brian Roberts of Comcast pretty much said that in his speech at the 4A’s media conference earlier this month.

* Second, convergence will be channeled through one of the most important future tools for marketers – the set-top box. This virtual in-home computer will become the advertisers’ best friend and will be the foundation for lots of positive change for television advertising. In particular, the data that cable and satellite companies will be able to provide to advertisers will – for the first time -- deliver important measurements and metrics and facilitate the level of accountability so needed by the marketing community.

* Third, television advertising inventory will continue to expand with the proliferation of channels and programming. With more channels and, theoretically, more content to fill those channels, the laws of supply and demand just may tip the scales back in the direction of marketers. Advertisers will be able to use television more selectively, hopefully moderating the growth of CPMs and bringing them in line with more reasonable measures.

* Fourth, television sponsorship will continue to unfold in new, creative ways with consumers giving greater permission to advertisers to engage them. Specifically, I am pointing to the evolving opportunities afforded by branded content as well as the development of video-on-demand. These vehicles will provide alternatives to the traditional 30-second spot by generating more personalized advertising and content specifically focused at target consumers.

* Fifth, the quality of programming will continue to improve – particularly at the networks. I think this year is one of the strongest we have seen in a long time. If the networks keep getting it right, opportunities will abound for advertisers to cost effectively reach the millions of eyeballs they expect from the television medium.

* Finally – and what I am most excited and interested in -- is the technology enabling more consumer targeting. I believe this trend will continue to accelerate and proliferate. Whether it’s the targeting technology offered by companies like Visible World or the addressable alternatives available through set-top box management, marketers will gain increased ability to zero-in on their core consumers, bringing greater efficiency and effectiveness to their marketing planning and execution. Of course it is incumbent upon marketers to collect consumer information in a fair manner that takes into account legitimate personal privacy concerns.

The television industry has some of the smartest and savviest people in the marketing community. They are very much aware that television is no longer the bedrock for brand communications. That’s why they need to move aggressively to mitigate their structural issues and leverage the spectacular opportunities they have before them – and do so with purpose and passion. If they need a wake up call, they need look no further than the Pepsi One re-launch – which has no television commercials in its marketing plan.

It’ll be interesting to see how the “drama” plays out. Kind of like a soap opera – don’t you think?

More thoughts to come from the ANA Television Advertising Forum…

Comments

[Valerie Stilwell]

Here's another example of why online has its hiccups just like anything else... This link leads to a site that has black letters on dark-blue background. It's been this way for a while now. Whose job is it to monitor and fix this site?

[aladina]

The flaw in your argument is that TV program content will improve. It won't; in fact, you're already witnessing the dumbing-down of the tube to the very-lowest common denominator. What killed TV was the extravagant greed of the actors on Seinfeld, Frazier, Friends and Ray Romano. Sure, their ransom-like demands were met, but that process turned a major corner -- and 3 of the 4 are no longer in production, with Romano ending shortly. When the cost of producing an hour of content passed the million-dollar mark, it tolled the end of script-oriented drama and comedy, and all that remains is the quicksand of reality shows. Add all the channels that technology allows, you can only see old re-runs and infomercials so many times before you switch off the remote.

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