NEW ORLEANS – There’s never been a better time for interactive television. And it’s not just the cable industry that’s pushing it, consumer expectations are helping to drive the technology, too.
That’s the message CTAM conference attendees heard during a panel discussion on iTV Monday during the opening day of the CTAM Summit in New Orleans. As broadband-enabled Internet disrupts cable’s traditional advertising and video distribution models, EBIF (Enhanced Binary Interchange Format)-enabled iTV represents a strategic – and potentially lucrative – opportunity for broadcasters, cable and marketers, say its believers.
But we’ve been teased by iTV’s potential before only to have it wither away. So why will it take root this time?
“Look at the success of IPGs (interactive program guides) and video-on-demand”, said Steve Necessary, VP of video strategy and product management for Cox Communications. “There’s no question that we, as consumers, are more comfortable with interacting with our TV now.”
Kathy Timko, COO of Canoe Ventures, (a company co-owned by the big U.S. MSOs Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Cox, Charter and Bright House which is using EBIF to roll out interactive ads nationally) not surprisingly agreed wholeheartedly with Necessary.
“Our research has shown that when you allow the consumer to interact, they will engage. They want to engage. And it gives advertisers and programmers a real opportunity that we haven’t seen before.”
Timko detailed Canoe’s work on iTV using an EBIF platform, which she referred to as “a big and important step toward a truly national interactive TV footprint”. She added EBIF differs from earlier interactive TV efforts because it was built to work on some of the oldest as well as the new digital cable set-tops.
“As an example of how big interactivity and iTV is to marketers, not only can an advertiser reach the broad medium of TV, but they can phase, change and sequence (their ads) now, as opposed to doing one brand campaign that needed to live for 30 or 60 days,” said Lisa Meier, VP of sales at Time Warner Cable. “They can use overlays to ask questions of the viewers which can help to influence campaigns or product development.”
But while the enthusiasm is there, there are still other factors to consider before iTV can truly take off and potentially flourish.
“There seems to be an emerging consensus about what this model is going to look like which will be tremendously helpful”, cautioned Peter Low, president and COO of iTV software company Ensequence. “Until that gets worked out, anything that any programmer or service provider does is a one-off negotiation.
“The business model is also important – we need a uniform application of how this gets paid for, which metrics matter, and which metrics have value,” added Low. “Those are a lot of things to work out, but for the first time, there’s going to be enough activity so that the momentum can build on its own.”
Cartt.ca senior editor Lesley Hunter is in New Orleans this week covering the CTAM Summit and the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. We are the only Canadian media outlet covering both gatherings in person, on site.
