You know when television has
crossed the Rubicon from a traditional box of analogue content to a
multiplatform black box of digital video when the first moderator at the recent
DMW Future of Television conference (Vertere’s Tim Hanlon) explained his
background as coming from "the medium formerly known as television."
It confirmed to me the general acceptance
of television’s changing market position but also led to some uneasy questions:
Since consumers are the drivers of change, are we as an industry leading from
behind? If television is indeed transitioning, why do we cleave to legacy
measurement? Will we be able to hold onto television ad dollars or will it
erode as the landscape becomes more digitized? How can we better monetize all
the new technological opportunities? How can we best harness big data so that
it reveals the true story?
While these are not new questions,
we are still waiting for answers.
"Is it the best of times or the worst of times for television?” Hanlon began, “Is it a vast cornucopia of choice, quality content or it is at the edge of a nervous breakdown with financial models, the illegalities of peer sharing and unmeasured audiences?" For those on the content side such as Matt Diamond of Defy Media and Roy Sekoff of Huffpost Live, the answer was resoundingly positive – it is absolutely the best of times. But for those on the buy and sell side, such DigitasLBi's John McCarus who is grappling with monetization under fire, “It is the best of times but with dark clouds." The uncertainties of living with change and the slow progress on entrenched challenges continue to vex and increasingly worry the traditional sectors of our industry.
"Is it the best of times or the worst of times for television?” Hanlon began, “Is it a vast cornucopia of choice, quality content or it is at the edge of a nervous breakdown with financial models, the illegalities of peer sharing and unmeasured audiences?" For those on the content side such as Matt Diamond of Defy Media and Roy Sekoff of Huffpost Live, the answer was resoundingly positive – it is absolutely the best of times. But for those on the buy and sell side, such DigitasLBi's John McCarus who is grappling with monetization under fire, “It is the best of times but with dark clouds." The uncertainties of living with change and the slow progress on entrenched challenges continue to vex and increasingly worry the traditional sectors of our industry.
Predictions are rampant. Diamond
predicted that “The consumer wants choice either in an internet minute or a
radio decade. Consumers will win out. You don't need a cord to watch. It will
be choice so eventually all will be a la carte.” CBS’ David Poltrack said, “We
are adding dynamic ad insertion so an ad can be schedule close to the point of
sale. That is where we are going as an industry. We are making our medium more
effective.” But Sekoff noted that,” We have not made the next great leap
forward in advertising. We are still talking about 30 second pre-roll and you
can't have that before a six second vine.”
As for me, the issue of
measurement looms large. We still use the proxy of age and gender to transact
in television when, with the expansion and convergence of big data sets and innovative
systems to data blend, we could target much more efficiently. And with the roll out of smart TVs, it is
expected that the entire television household universe will be digitized in the
next few years. So why then the measurement stasis?
Howard Shimmel of Turner put it
into context, “We have a huge challenge in the TV (measurement) space. We typically
use historical data to predict the future. Basing it on age and sex is
ridiculous; Lady Gaga and Sara Palin are both W25-54.” On the buy side,
Jonathan Boker of MediaVest saw the challenge in the silo’d nature of the industry
and to some extent, the data. “You can't shovel attributes off one platform
into another. It doesn't work. The TV platform and its underlying technology is
different from IT platform.” From the sell side, Shimmel concurred, “How do we
put new data into our current infrastructure? We structured our inventory according
to age and gender. Now, how do we do it with target segments? We struggle with
doing that in scale. We license some outside technology that plugs into our
infrastructure. In concept it is wonderful. But in practice it is not simple.”
Since the user interfaces are
different, it can impact usage. Linda Ong of TruthCo noted that content choices
are reached differently depending upon the platform; “You can’t channel surf on
an iPad as you do with a TV.” She continued, “We use psychographics. Breaking Bad
viewers have more of a common sensibility which is not necessarily related to age
or gender.”
It may be a matter of continuing
to allow the advancement of technology to wend its way through the various
industry silos until a commonly accepted solution can be developed. But in the
meantime we scramble to find temporary solutions while leaving money on the
table and allowing certain industry sectors to either entropy and erode or lie
fallow. But what may arguably be the biggest risk is disenfranchising clients,
as Allison Dollar of the interactive Television Alliance stated, “We are tired of
being promised things that are not delivered.”
