Exploring The Potential for Enhanced TV Advertising

Advertisers are concerned about the impact of the migration of TV viewers from commercial TV to an on demand world. Two trends have emerged that are of particular concern to our members:

Consumer Control over how, what and when they will receive commercial messages

The opportunities and/or threats posed to television advertising by new technology such as DVR (digital video recorders); VOD (video on demand - either pay per play, subscription or advertiser supported;) addressability (ability to target at the DMA, Sub DMA or household level); and interactivity (ads which “telescope” and for which consumer can click for more information).

Some advertisers have tested some or all of these emerging models but for proprietary or other reasons the results are not widely shared, thus inhibiting the learning which could accrue to all interested parties. Since little information from these trials is broadly shared, they are not gaining traction with the advertising community.

As the advertising industry’s trade association that is advertiser, agency, media and content provider neutral, the ANA is in the best position to lead a non biased initiative to explore this new frontier. Thus, we are proposing an initiative that would create an open forum for advertisers, their agencies, content providers, multi-channel distributors and technology companies to develop enhanced television advertising models based on a consumer centric approach. Such an agnostic environment should lead to a greater understanding of the enhanced television realm, its advertising propositions and consumer interaction.

By sharing information and each contributing their expertise to the process in a real world enhanced television setting, all players in this arena would benefit. From the collaboration among technology companies, pay TV operators and content providers; the advertiser and their agencies will gain valuable marketing data applicable to deployment for its media arsenal.