Rovi to Deliver Digital Entertainment Advertising Program for Toyota

Rovi Corporation recently announced that it is collaborating with Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. to launch an interactive TV advertising initiative for the Toyota Tundra on the Rovi Advertising Network. Rovi’s product offering gives Toyota the ability to bring an innovative advertising experience to consumers and enables viewers to learn more about Toyota’s products through rich and dynamic content made available through advanced portals on the Rovi Advertising Network.

The Rovi Advertising Network offers advertising on Rovi guides—the ‘home page’ of the television where consumers go to find out what’s on TV—and on third-party interactive TV platforms, including set-top boxes, TVs and Blu-ray players. Rovi guides provide advertisers with a unique platform for reaching and engaging viewers via consumer destinations, or portals, while they are actively looking for new programming and in ‘decision-mode.’ Rovi guides represent a highly-trafficked area on TV: 87% of monitored households access the guide weekly; guide users on average visit the guide nine times daily; and users spend 13 minutes in the guide daily.

Because users of the Rovi platform are not limited to :30 second commercials, Toyota is able to offer consumers the opportunity to dive deeper and learn more about the Toyota Tundra. By accessing Toyota banner ads on Rovi guides, consumers can use their remote controls to view videos, photos and other Tundra product information.

thePlatform Unveils New Capabilities to Support Online Video Businesses

Media companies and content owners face an expanding challenge trying to publish their video assets across multiple devices with varying rights restrictions and advertising obligations. ThePlatform, the leading white-label video publishing company, launched a suite of new features to enhance its customers' ability to enforce video business policies, monetization models, and content restrictions using the company's mpx Beta video management system.

Specifically, mpx Beta now includes new tools for creating and managing curated video feeds, integrated support for applying advertising policies, and additional capabilities to enforce viewing restrictions for TV shows, live events, movies, clips, and more. In addition, the company published a new security white paper on best- practices, including methods of securing content between storage and the CDN (content delivery network), and in various playback scenarios.

Introduced by thePlatform earlier this year, mpx Beta offers features to make managing large content libraries easier; versatile tools to enable more business models across an ever-expanding number of websites, mobile devices, and set-top-boxes; and a continuing commitment to enterprise class performance. The new enhancements to mpx Beta features include: Curated Feeds Drive More Video Views, Advanced Restrictions, Integrated Advertising Policy Management, and New Media Security White Paper.

For more information, click here.

CONNECTIONS™ addresses business strategies and new technologies that leverage consumer interest in TV Everywhere services

Parks Associates reports TV Everywhere services are gaining popularity, with over 40% of U.S. broadband households very positive on these services, which will be a prominent topic at the upcoming CONNECTIONS™: The Digital Living Conference and Showcase.

CONNECTIONS™ includes multiple sessions on New Media and Digital Content:

• TV Everywhere and Online Video
• Mobile Internet and Cloud Services
• Trends in User Interfaces
• TV and Online Video Advertising Metrics
• DRM, Conditional Access, and Payment Models

Other Event Sessions:

Entertainment Platforms & Value-Added Services

• Digital Home Technical Support Services
• Digital Lifestyles
• Service Provider Innovation
• The Service Provider and the Connected Home
• Innovations & Investments: Venture Capitalist Insights

Consumer Electronics

• Design Elements for Connected CE
• Monetizing Connected CE
• The Future of the Set-top Box
• 3DTV
• TV Technology in the New Age of Consumer Buying

Home Systems & Controls

• Residential Energy Management
• Getting Consumers to Care about Home Controls
• Business Models for Energy Management
• Architectures and Implications for the Home Area Network
• Energy Management as a Key Application for Home Controls

For more information, visit www.connectionsus.com or contact sales@parksassociates.com, 972-490-1113.

BlackArrow and Fox Cable Networks Partner on Dynamic Advertising Trial for Video on Demand

BlackArrow, a leading worldwide provider of advanced advertising solutions for New Television platforms, announced it has partnered with Fox Cable Networks to trial the BlackArrow Advanced Advertising System across the video-on-demand (VoD) content of FX, National Geographic Channel and SPEED.

With the BlackArrow system, Fox Cable Networks is testing the ability to deliver addressable advertising to viewers in multiple cable markets. Fox Cable Networks is utilizing the BlackArrow Sales Suite to customize on-demand campaigns based on factors such as viewer demographics and viewing behaviors, as well as specific content on its three networks.

The Fox Cable Networks trial is using the sophisticated capabilities within the BlackArrow Sales Suite. Among the key features essential in the execution of this trial are tools that leverage content information and anonymous subscriber data for audience addressability; manage business arrangements between networks and cable distributors, and modules to optimize avails using BlackArrow’s Placement Opportunity Information Service (POIS).

For more information, visit http://www.blackarrow.tv.

Google buys Admob for $750 million

Google took one step closer to digital media domination by snapping up the mobile advertising Admobfirm for a cool $750 million.

Admob helps firms advertise on mobile web sites, as well as providing the technology for serving said adverts on mobiles. It also works with applications for in-applications advertising.

The deal represents a bit of a bargain for Google, but it is counting on the mobile advertising market to grow.

Last month, Google announced that its mobile searches increased 30 per cent quarter over quarter in the third quarter. In August Admob sent out its 100 billionth mobile ad.

The deal is Google's third largest acquisition behind its 2008 purchase of Doubleclick for $3.1 billion and its 2006 buyout of YouTube for $1.65 billion.

For the full article, click here.

Business Models for On-Demand Lifestyles

The CONNECTIONS Europe Summit afternoon begins with the Business Models for On-Demand Lifestyles panel moderated by Stuart Sikes, President, Parks Associates.

Where is profitability in the connected lifestyle? What are the “rules of engagement” (business, regulatory, consumer) for implementing access to new content and applications? This panel examines the critical factors for monetizing the connected lifestyle:

• Monetizing online content

• The role of advertising and other revenue-generating programs

• Understanding the needs of content producers and owners

• Application stores, microtransactions, and the mobile provider

Speakers include:
Wim Bus, Senior Vice President of Product Management & Operations, Civolution
Keith Donovan, Sales & Marketing Director, Intamac Systems
Rob Lewis, CEO, Omnifone
Theodore May, VP Content & Value Added Services, Synacor
Neerav Shah, VP Business Development, Verimatrix

CONNECTIONS Summit at CES to focus on connected products and services and business strategies for 3D TV, advertising, and energy management

Parks Associates today released the preliminary agenda for CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES, which focuses on new business strategies for connected CE, service providers, 3D video, Smart Grid technologies, and other connected home solutions.

The international research firm will host this event on January 7, 2010, in the Las Vegas Convention Center, on the first day of 2010 International CES. Parks Associates’ expert analysts will moderate the Summit sessions, presenting consumer research on buying habits, purchase intentions, and interest in a variety of connected home solutions. The sessions also feature executives in the digital living markets, who will discuss the challenges of today’s business climate and the areas of service and innovation that fit best with the changing needs of households throughout the world.

To view the agenda, click here.

CONNECTIONS Summit at CES Agenda

CES is about making business connections, and CONNECTIONS Summit is the ideal place to start. This information-packed networking event features presentations of the latest consumer and industry research, forecasts, and panel discussions moderated by Parks Associates. You’ll hear commentary, insight, and debate from industry executives and analysts on connected CE, video services and advertising, energy management, mobile convergence, and more. Then unwind at the evening reception, where you can network with existing and prospective partners.

View Agenda
- Consumer Electronics Purchases: Are Consumers Back in the Buying Mood?
- The Connected TV – Displays and Beyond
- Service Provider Strategies for the Connected Home
- The Mobile Aspect of Unified Infotainment: Opportunities and Challenges
- Advances in Television Advertising
- Bringing the Smart Grid to the Smart Home
- 3D: Adding New Dimensions to Entertainment

French Company, Publicis in lead to acquire Razorfish

Publicis Groupe, a French advertising company, is leading the competition to purchase Razorfish, Microsoft's digital advertising agency. Japan's largest advertising firm, Dentsu is also bidding for Razorfish. No deals are finalized yet. However, Dentsu made a higher offer from the Publicis $500-600 million bid. Publicis negotiations also include a buyer's commitment to purchase hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising on Microsoft's digital properties.

As an attractive target for advertising holding companies, Razorfish could help bolster their digital expertise, to grab ad revenue as it transitions from traditional media to the Internet.

Razorfish has created online pitches for companies such as Levi Strauss & Co., Mercedes-Benz USA and MillerCoors.

Microsoft acquired Razorfish as part of its 2007 aQuantive acquisition for $6 billion. Its estimated that Razorfish could go for $400 - 700 million.

For more about this topic, read the full article on the The Wall Street Journal.

CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES addresses challenges, opportunities as connected consumer electronics take center stage

Parks Associates announced the Call For Papers for its upcoming CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES, taking place January 7, 2010, in Las Vegas, NV. The international research firm, which forecasts unit sales and installations of connected consumer electronics worldwide will exceed 100 million units annually by 2013, will host the Summit during the first day of 2010 International CES.

The main topics for the CONNECTIONS™ Summit sessions include trends in consumer electronics, including 3D TV and support services; new advertising models for TV and online video; advanced video services; home systems and energy management; mobile services; and digital health.

The Summit sessions, moderated by Parks Associates’ expert analysts, examine the consumer and industry trends in these digital living sectors and present strategies that fit best with the changing needs of households in the U.S. and throughout the world.

For more information or to submit to speak at CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES, visit http://www.connectionssummit.com/. The form also offers submission options for CONNECTIONS™ Europe Summit, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on November 4, 2009. Submission deadline for both events is August 15, 2009.

By listening closely to consumers, brands can transcend and transact

Show Some Respect...

Many are biding their time by tinkering with what didn't work last year. Case in point: If you think of advertising today, the "Shamwow," dancing cowboys and "You've Just Won" banner ads seem to dominate—very stupid sells, I would argue. The message to consumers has become increasingly disrespectful and is the ad businesses' equivalent to the current panic selling happening in the stock market. Fear makes us act, even if the action isn't logical.

The concept of "listening" has made it beyond conversations within ARF meetings. Case in point: our First Lady is taking a "Listening Tour" around America. Listening is finally getting the respect it deserves, for good reason. True listening allows marketers to adjust messages to make them relevant and, yes, respectful to the consumer. And listening to consumers has never been more important, since their needs and priorities change constantly. Last year's media plan might as well be 100 years old. Brand loyalty declines due to lack of relevance; a direct result of not listening.

So how do we achieve Respect Marketing when budgets and CPM are shrinking? Instead of letting these conditions turn consumer conversations into brash, unwanted, one-way pitches, we need to really stop and listen to our consumers today. Is the message or program that we're offering respectful and of value? Are we adjusting our actions and messages to tap into core human needs? Are we appealing to consumers' desires to do good, win, connect with others and express themselves? Or even more simply, would anyone like to see this?

In the end, it's not about the size of our ad budgets or CPM rates. And it's certainly not about repeating last year's mistakes again and again. It's about listening and respecting the changing consumer by participating in their conversation. In doing so, you create a customer for life who will continue to return to your site or buy your product.

By respecting consumers, you are instilling in them a desire to reward marketers and publishers with their loyalty and, ultimately, their dollars.

Written by Peter Daboll is CEO of Bunchball. Posted on behalf of Bunchball.

Behavioral Targeting and Consumer Privacy: New Media's Paradox

by Harry Wang, Research Analyst, Parks Associates

Contextual targeting is widely used in both the offline and online advertising worlds. But the wild-card nature of behavioral targeting could revolutionize how marketers interact with their target audience in an online world. Behavioral targeting is based on a proven assumption that the Web pages people visit and where they go from those pages indicate at least a presumptive interest in products related to the page topics. For example, repeat visits to a Web page featuring reviews for camcorders, coupled with subsequent Web visits to major electronic retailers, clearly indicates at least a curiosity about camcorders. If this type of data is combined with other Web traffic such as visits to baby portrait services, baby travel kits, and vacation packages, the marketer can be quite confident that this particular user plans to buy a camcorder to film a baby, perhaps during an upcoming trip. As a result, advertisers not only have in-depth knowledge of the customer but also can purchase ads along this user’s future “Web trail,” instead of serving ads only to camcorder-related Websites. Some publishers find behavioral-based targeting very useful for selling undervalued ad inventory.

For instance, The Wall Street Journal reported that in the past, NBC Universal Inc.’s iVillage found it difficult to sell ads next to its astrology section because few products and brands correlate directly with astrology. But “by identifying a particular consumer [through behavior targeting] and delivering an ad tied to his or her interests, that same ad spot is worth a lot more,” said Peter Naylor, senior vice president of digital media sales for NBC Universal.

Technology vendors have been trying for years to translate online behaviors and consumption habits into predictable product and service needs so that advertisers can deliver the appropriate marketing messages at the right moment and on the right Web pages. Over the last two years, their work has finally caught the attention of advertisers and publishers. Ultimately, contextual and behavioral targeting should and will be integrated to give advertisers the most reliable information about their audience’s interest and their surfing patterns. This level of granularity is a marketer’s dream but can easily trigger privacy concerns if the issue is poorly handled. Facebook’s original ad-targeting policies caused such a stir that the company eventually had to backtrack to pacify its users. Advocacy groups have already called on the federal and state governments to tighten privacy regulations in light of this and many other events that they say have given them grave concern over online properties’ ability to protect Web users’ privacy. Currently, the debate over privacy protection is centered on how advertisers use personal identifiers and whether behavioral targeting should be “opt-in” versus “opt-out.” (“Opt-in” means that consumers must give explicit permission; otherwise, advertisers/publishers cannot track consumer behaviors online. “Opt-out” is just the opposite: advertisers/publishers can track consumer behaviors online unless consumers explicitly notify advertisers to “opt-out.”) Marketers are leaning toward “opt-out” and argue that this policy is consistent with precedent set by anti-spam policies. Consumer privacy groups, however, are pressing for “opt-in,” and many want the creation of a “Do-Not-Track” list that allows consumers to opt out completely of all behavioral profiling and targeting. Marketers are lobbying hard against such a list for fear of a similar devastating effect that the “Do-Not-Call” list had on the telemarketing industry. They also point out that audience targeting differs from telemarketing because better targeting feeds consumers with the most relevant information that helps them make informed decisions.

This debate will continue until technology vendors and the business community come up with privacy guidelines for behavioral targeting to assure consumers and their privacy right advocacy groups. Technology providers can shore up support if they not only give their promise in writing but also design a data-scrambling mechanism that makes it difficult for anyone to extract personal information from an online behavioral database. Such a mechanism also needs to be independently verified for its intended use. The advertising industry might have to cough up additional funds to cover these extra efforts, but as the old saying goes, “No pain, no gain.” It is the only way for the advertising industry to move beyond this controversy and pursue a growing new media advertising market, which is expected to hit $12.6 billion in 2012.

This article was published for the 2008 CONNECTIONS™ Conference Industry Insights, the official publication of CONNECTIONS™.

VoloMedia gets 3.5 Million

Leader Ventures provided $3.5 million of venture financing to VoloMedia, one of the leading providers of advertising, metrics, and reporting solutions for downloadable media: both video and audio.

Brian Steel, CEO, VoloMedia will speak at CONNECTIONS on June 25 at 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM on the session: Advertising: New Media and Digital Advertising: A Marriage of Necessity

Other confirmed speakers on this session include:
Pat Dunbar, Director of Mediaroom & Connected TV Advertising, Microsoft Corp.
Karen Feldman, Media and Entertainment Lead, IBM

Social Video and User-generated Content

Summary information from Day 2: CONNECTIONS™ May 2007, hosted in Santa Clara, CA

What will be the ultimate impact of the social video movement? This panel shares views and analysis of what Web 2.0 will really mean to the video space once the hype subsides.

Huan C. Le, Vice President, Business Development, Break.com
Fred McIntyre, Senior Vice President, AOL Video, AOL LLC
Matt Sanchez, CEO & Co-founder, VideoEgg, Inc.
Garrick Schmitt, Vice President and National Lead, User Experience, Avenue A Razorfish
Michelle Wu, CEO, MediaZone
Moderator: John Barrett, Director, Research, Parks Associates

Specific Questions to Address:

• How important is the consumers’ role in social video? Do they provide more than just a way for sites to by-pass copyright laws?
• Will advertisers pay top dollar for cheaply produced, user-generated content?
• Will advertising on user-generated content always be discounted against commercially produced content?
• How blurry will the line be between commercial and user-generated video?
• What will be the long-term impact of social video on the entertainment business?

The rise of video sharing has surpassed even the growth of social networking sites. Panelists discussed the role of the consumer in social video, the opportunities and challenges in monetizing social video, and the future evolutionary path of social video. John Barrett introduced the topic by discussing the types of content that users are viewing on video-sharing sites. There is a misconception that the bulk of videos being viewed on video-sharing sites are user generated. According to Parks Associates’ research, the most popular forms of content being viewed on video-sharing sites are professionally created — 76% of consumers surveyed watch Movie Previews, 75% watch TV Clips, and 72% watch Music Videos.

The panelists felt user-generated content will play a key role in consumer services moving forward. The current emphasis on content, however, will gradually transition to an emphasis on community. Moreover, the revenue potential of the space will eventually push players to resolve the digital rights management issues surrounding the use of commercial content in user-generated content.

Carriers as "Experience Providers"

Summary information from Day 2: CONNECTIONS™ May 2007, hosted in Santa Clara, CA.

Carriers as "Experience Providers"

This panel addresses the new focus on consumer experiences with an examination of changing business models, enabling solutions for service providers, and fixed-mobile convergence trends.

Jay Deen, Vice President of Technology, Casero, Inc.
Kai Hackbarth, Requirements Chair, OSGi Alliance
Keith Higgins, VP, Marketing, Stoke, Inc.
Ellis Lindsay, Home Networking and Digital Lifestyle SME, Alcatel-Lucent
Kirk Munroe, Director, Product Management, Radialpoint
John Ulm, Fellow of the Technical Staff, Connected Home Solutions, Motorola, Inc.
Moderator: Yuanzhe (Michael) Cai, Director, Broadband & Gaming, Parks Associates

In 2006, U.S. broadband penetration reached 50% while bandwidth costs year over year have been plummeting. The next step is for service providers to move beyond selling raw bandwidth and start focusing on smart bandwidth and smart-home applications. They need to leverage the multiple screens they own and deliver cross-platform experiences based on convergence networks. The panel discussed this transition, including what’s happening and what’s to come. The panel also addressed the opportunities for hardware and software solution providers. For instance, a residential gateway is likely to be a key enabling platform for service providers. France Telecom has shipped more than 4 million LiveBoxes to date, and their success with the “unik” fixed-mobile convergence phone service is partially because of the large installed base of LiveBoxes.

Bundling is another megatrend in the carrier market. Cable MSOs are killing telcos in certain markets due to their triple-play success. Fifty percent of Comcast’s new broadband subscribers in Q1 2007 churned from telecom carriers. Consumers are likely to focus first on discounts and on-bill convenience but will eventually demand convergence features. Carriers need to make sure they educate consumers along the way.

Right now, the most successful VAS offerings on the broadband platform are still PC and home network security, although other services are gaining traction. According to Radialpoint, 15% of customers for their carrier clients buy security services from broadband carriers, and it has become a sizable revenue stream. The next step is to provide network-based backup, sharing, and community services. Exclusive content may also be a differentiator, and major carriers have begun investing heavily in content.

Another topic discussed was that consumers don’t always need to foot the bill for the services they receive. Carriers can become arbitrators between consumers and businesses to provide “validated bandwidth” in a similar way to restaurants validating parking for their patrons. However this requires carriers to know more about their subscribers and leverage that knowledge in order to deliver targeted advertisements relevant to consumers. Carriers have not monetized user information very well and have a long way to go before they can catch up with Google and other over-the-top providers. Over-the-top is definitely a threat, but quality will always be important – and carriers can provide that quality with their managed network. Carriers have also begun to use more white-label solutions instead of partnering with companies like Yahoo! and MSN for their Internet services.

IMS will be an important platform if the industry is to realize this vision of experience-based services. Carriers need to improve both the front and back ends of their platforms. Right now the technology is still at an early stage, but investment in the next few years will be significant. IMS will enable carriers to provision new services on the fly. Right now developers have demonstrated only limited applications, but IMS is like IP — it has unlimited potential. However, it will take many years for carriers to transition to the IMS platform. Having the ability to provide both wireless and wireless services will also be extremely important for large carriers. The cell phone will be the key for consumers to access other personalized services, and with more and more broadband-enabled cell phones on the market, broadband solution providers need to begin addressing this platform. Universal parental control and security will also be important. In the end, if carriers can make consumers’ lives easier and more comfortable, they’ll make money.

Summary information from Day 2: CONNECTIONS™ May 2007, hosted in Santa Clara, CA.

Lunch Keynote — Intersection of Art and Science: The Digital Disruption of Entertainment

Lunch Sponsored by HomePNA

Presented by: Daniel Scheinman, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cisco Media Solutions Group, Cisco Systems, Inc.

“We stand at one of the most exciting times in our industry,” said Scheinman as he began his address. The disruptions to the advertising, media, and communications industries, brought by growing broadband Internet access, the digitization of content, and the empowerment of the consumer, are building (and growing) a $1.2 trillion business. Industries, he noted, are being reshaped and creating enormous economic value.

Scheinman covered three main areas in his keynote address: 1) What the recent disruptions mean for the technology industry; 2) What the impact will and should be for media companies; and 3) Cisco’s role in shaping the industry.

As you look at previous eras of major technological innovation, we are just now exiting a the “WAN/LAN” timeframe and entering into a new age of consumer empowerment. This new area will be characterized by very different flows of innovation, said Scheinman. Previously, you could count on technology development flowing from universities, to money center banks, to enterprise, service providers, and finally the consumer. Now, he says, many of today’s innovations are initiated at the consumer and service provider space, and are just now being adopted by the enterprise. Two relevant examples he used were high-definition television and community-oriented networking. Cisco today has 1,500 employees using a third-party community networking site such as Facebook because the company has not yet developed its own internal community solution.

This new age of consumer empowerment will mean even stronger growth for companies in the technology space, said Scheinman. If you look at projections for worldwide revenues for communications, IT, and electronics purchases, it’s a trillion-dollar market, growing at about 5% annually. When you add in the consumer, he expects growth to jump to 10% annually, driven in large part by more rapid-than-expected surges in broadband growth in India and China. “Consumer-oriented technology,” he noted, “will become an important center for profits and revenue.”

The challenge that the empowered consumer brings to content creators is acute, Scheinman noted. Not only are the expecting higher-quality offerings, but content enjoyment is characterized by a massive increase in content availability, plus ever-increasing freedom in how and where consumers enjoy it. The increasing fragmentation of time and space is a huge challenge for the content industry, Scheinman noted, because they lack the fundamental ability to truly connect one-one-one with their audience. In the old days, the connection was generally made at retail or other third-party outlets, leaving the studios to dictate the terms in which they would distribute content. Now, the industry is at a distinct disadvantage in the consumer-as-center-of-the-world model in which we find ourselves.

Two fundamental questions that the content industry needs to answer are 1) What do people want; and 2) Where will they find it? Scheinman says that the answer to these questions lies in a significant opportunity – building communities around content. This is nothing new. After all, we had the water cooler back in the days when the broadcasters and studios were dictating the how and when terms of content enjoyment. Today, younger consumers especially are showing the first indications that entertainment tomorrow will be less about “collecting” than “community.”

Cisco’s role in the new era of community and personalized distribution of content will be significant, Scheinman predicts. The opportunities for the company in the new era lie in three specific areas – Distribute, Connect, and Discover. With its next-gen IP network, Cisco has a strong position in the distribution space, he notes. Now, with Scientific-Atlanta and Linksys as Cisco brands, Scheinman notes that consumers stand about a 50% chance of connecting through the Internet with either of those to companies’ products.

It’s the Discover phase that Dan says is the big challenge and opportunity for Cisco. The company that wins in providing best-of-class solutions for Discover will be solving two fundamental challenges facing the industry:

• How does anyone find anything (and why should they have to work to do so); and
• How do companies build a brand?

One relevant example that Scheinman discussed to answer these to questions is the work that the company did in helping the National Hockey League develop its community-oriented Website. One key and surprising finding for the NHL was the realization that far more than 10% of its fans are female, shattering preconceived notions about what the NHL’s core fan base looks like. These findings prove that successful online community development can lead to surprising results and to business growth, Scheinman said.

In conclusion, Scheinman noted that Cisco has an incredible presence at retail with Linksys and with the service provider community with Scientific-Atlanta. “If we can build the third leg with the content owners,” he said, “we’ll be very successful as a company.”

Applications & Content for the Digital Lifestyle

Summary information from Day 1: CONNECTIONS™ May 2007, hosted in Santa Clara, CA.

As digital media distribution evolves, business models must evolve to account for convergence between pure consumer-paid services and those supported by advertising revenues. This panel includes industry luminaries on the cutting edge of new media who will discuss its impact on the digital lifestyle.

Brad Davis, Vice President, Advertising Sales, Disney Online, Walt Disney Internet Group
Christine Heckart, General Manager, Microsoft TV, Microsoft Corp.
Yoav Tzruya, COO, Exent Technologies
Moderator: Stuart Sikes, President, Parks Associates

This panel took up the debate surrounding Sokola’s contention that current TV advertising dollars are wasteful and inefficient. The panelists agreed that today’s television advertising is not very good at being targeted and measured. Brad Davis acknowledged that Google’s purchase of DoubleClick keeps him up at night since it gives Google a leg up in display ads. Whether gaming or IPTV services would be the savior of advertising was certainly debatable during the panel. Yoav Tzruya is certainly optimistic, but it’s not a panacea. Christine Heckart acknowledged that the IP properties of IPTV make it a compelling application for targeted and measurable advertising but the footprint of IPTV subscribers is currently so small that advertisers aren’t ready to make the move yet.

More than anything, the panel laid out questions in need of answers. For example, Heckart indicated that most implementations of next-gen advertising are a “science experiment” and some determinations need to be made as to who will be responsible for measuring and reporting advertising results. Will it be today’s well-known companies such as Nielsen, or will it be other parties? In the end, one looming question that the industry needs to answer, according to all of the panelists, is how does money flow from a small core of beneficiaries (content owners) to other players?

Opening Keynote — Media Mobility and the Connected Home

Summary information from Day 1: CONNECTIONS™ May 2007, hosted in Santa Clara, CA.

Opening Keynote — Media Mobility and the Connected Home
Presented by: Ray Sokola, Chief Technology Officer and Corporate Vice President, Motorola, Inc.

More than ever, consumers expect providers to offer seamless, on-demand access to a wide array of personal and professionally created media. The next-generation of technology for the Connected Home will not only enable this access, but expand the consumer's choice and offer more individual personalization than ever before. With these new technology platforms come new and emerging business models: content mobility, on-demand ad insertion, push-to-consumer technologies, mobile advertising and more. In his presentation, Mr. Sokola spoke about the technology innovations that enable the Connected Home environment and discussed how these technologies open the door to new revenue streams for service providers.

In his CONNECTIONS™ keynote, Ray Sokola discussed the underlying trends that allow a product to be “mobility-enabled.” A key starting point is the rise of very affordable storage, both for local (the in-home DVR) and network-based applications (such as video-on-demand with DRAM-based VOD servers). Take every single conversation that a person has during his or her lifetime, for example. They could all be stored on a terabyte (and it could be accomplished rather cost-effectively).

The consumer is going to benefit from the evolution of the set-top box (STB), Sokola noted. First, the STB was all about controlling the channel. It then evolved to a platform to control the time and place of viewing (with DVRs and whole-house DVRs). The third stage will be user-motivated control of programming and content, which leads to interesting applications, such as Motorola’s Follow Me TV™, where time-shifted programming can flow from room to room using home networking.

Finally, Sokola discussed the evolution of advertising, where $70 billion was spent last year just on television ads. Sokola wondered aloud whether this was an inefficient use of ad dollars and if there are ways to make it more meaningful – “repartitioning” it, as he put it. Two new models that may come to fruition are location-based and personalized-driven advertising.