Now, if they can just remember to take a paddle when they go up the creek
The Golden Rule of business these days is “Do unto Google before Google does unto you,” and the big cable companies apparently are devout believers. According to the New York Times, the nation’s six biggest cable outfits — Comcast, Time Warner, Cablevision, Cox, Charter and Bright House — have been huddling over the past six months on Project Canoe — a jointly owned company that would allow national advertisers to buy customized and interactive ads across the members’ systems. With Google interested, to one degree or another, in every possible form of targeted advertising, the cable companies will try to get a jump in what is expected to be a rich market in their medium. Of course, cable has been promising innovative ad models for a while now, but this time the companies hope to parlay the power of the set-top box into a sophisticated targeting system that’s easy for advertisers to customize. “Addressable advertising on television is in many ways the holy grail, because it can offer ever more targeting ability than Google,” said Craig Moffett, a senior analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. And advertisers sound eager for something to develop. “As an advertiser, as an agency, it is so necessary that the cable industry act collectively,” said Tracey Scheppach, senior vice president and video and innovations director at Starcom. “Because they didn’t have a formal group before, they just threw stuff against the wall and some stuff stuck.” At the moment, the sticking point seems to be the choice of a chief executive. “They’re trying to figure out, do they want someone from inside the cable industry, or do they want someone from inside the advertising industry?” said Moffett.
This has less to do with television and more about other devices and media. The cable companies view the set-top box as the gateway to other connected devices in the home, each device with the potential to drive directed advertising and click-thru revenue.
If they can figure out a way to drive new forms of advertising to the television without upsetting viewers’ expectations, good for them. But targeted popup ads that appear during “CSI” won’t go over too well.
I think Comcast has been playing with this in my area. I noticed awhile back that we had used their “spotlight” to look for cars, now all I get in commercial breaks are ads for cars from local dealers. I suspect that they are testing it in the Seattle area. Since they already know my age, they are also targeting retirement ads too. Pretty clever.
It will take these idiots YEARS to learn that the new advertisting model will require that the viewers of the ads be paid to watch the ads. Such a ghastly concept since it fries the brains of the freshly minted MBA’s to think of such a novel concept, but it’s the wave of the future. Imagine that instead of getting a cable/sat bill each month that you instead get a check!
John Rinck said:
Imagine that instead of getting a cable/sat bill each month that you instead get a check!
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That will indeed be cold day in hell!! The very idea of Comcast sending me cash! I might as well wait for the Easter Bunny and Pigs having Wings!
Why would they want to do that? Keep the money and run is Corporate America’s Golden Rule!
It’s encouraging to see this. They have a limited window of opportunity provided by their monopolist distribution cash flow, but technology will erode that in time and they will have to find a way to add value other than just owning their exclusive market area infrastructure.
Sounds to me like a clear antitrust violation — the six largest cable companies conspiring together to set advertising means, methods and pricing.