Interactive ad exec: more precise metrics needed for IPTV profitability
At the 2007 Spring Von Show in San Jose, I sat in on an interesting presentation by Ari Paparo, vice-president of rich media for interactive advertising agency DoubleClick.
Ari painted a rather sobering picture of why "huge operational issues," as well as confusion on the part of media buyers, seem to be holding back more widespread profitability among IPTV content creators.
The logistical problems Ari talked about include, as he colorfully put it, "a witches brew of technologies that no one understands." This pertains to everything from the video players used to present the main IPTV content to the type of ad server used to reliably insert advertising into the content.
Too much experimentation, not enough standardization. Not exactly Ari's words, but that's my take on what he meant.
If you think that's a pain, then wait until I tell you about what Ari believes frustrates would-be IPTV media buyers. You know, the folks that every IPTV content creator (and there are lots of wanna-be's in the Von crowd) wishes would advertise on their totally cool Web show.
Ari says that "impressions and clicks are not enough. Buyers want more information."
Begs the questions:
- How many viewers lasted to the end of the 30-second spot?
- How many viewers muted the sound of the ad?
- How many viewers hit pause,stop or restart while the ad was playing?
- How many viewers blew up the ad (and the program the ad appear in) to full size on their media player?
- How many viewers freeze-framed the content because of a "sweet spot?" That could mean a key juncture in the content that the viewer might wish to take a screen capture of, and then distribute virally?
When we manage to make these metrics seamless and easily available, then, I suspect, more of the IPTV wanna-be's that have "cool" shows to bring to the online world will have their paths to profitability not strewn with all these formidable barriers.