On demand programming looks like the future of television and long-form, interactive ads look like the future of television advertising. And that’s probably good news for both parties in the marketing transaction.

This article in Television Week caught my eye because it reinforces something I’ve been talking about for the past few years: interactive television (the latest step towards the convergence of television and online) will work because it will finally move television beyond its role as an awareness medium into a more productive role as a discreet customer development medium.

Well, it is “interactive” after all. Duh.

Don’t dismiss this as just the rantings of another techno-geek. I barely qualify in that regard. Instead, consider the impact of the dual convergence of technology and content. What’s really been hanging up the development of truly interactive media have been bandwidth issues and utilization of the technology by people who would actually pay for it.

We all knew bandwidth would just be a matter of time. The pipe is getting larger and will continue to do so. But the utilization issue was the big question.

Thank goodness TiVO was able to hang on for the past four years and remain a constant issue for advertisers and programmers. Without it, no one would start looking for creative solutions to counter the threats posed by the technology (time shifting programming and clicking through commercial breaks).

So what were the creative solutions? Better advertising content designed to take advantage of the technology and engage the viewer rather than count on a passive audience on the other side of the television screen. In the 1950′s people would sit around and watch the box in amazement – broadcast television was a significant technology in itself and a hell of a lot more fun to watch than radio.

By the late 1960′s, television technology was truly available for the masses and the introduction of color helped keep audiences growing and television use become more pervasive. The 1970′s saw the start of programmatic developments (thank you Aaron Spelling and Gary Marshall) and the emergence of cable. But by the end of the 1990′s US audiences had started to erode.

The easy culprit to blame was Al Gore’s brainchild: The Internet. But in reality, the problem was deeper than that. As consumers the American public did not stand still even though television, as a medium, had. TiVO and DVD technology came onto the scene (truly emerged) in the late 1990′s and I think everyone was surprised how quickly the technologies (and what they represented actually meant) were adopted.

Now, at the beginning of this first decade of the 21st century, are we looking at a new boom in television viewing? I don’t think so. Household penetration is as deep as it can get (I think) and there are now social movements afoot to reduce television viewership.

So the emphasis has to be put on the “quality” of the viewing experience – something that hasn’t really been addressed in almost fifty years. We have to see the television experience fundamentally change to a more respectful interaction between viewer and broadcaster. And that’s what this article indicates is finally happening.

Imagine the benefits of marketing only to an audience that is really interested in what you have to say? Early returns from interactive television and on-demand advertising show response rates double that of the best direct mail efforts. Wow.

It won’t be cheap, but it will be effective. And the reduction of wasted effort is good news for society in general (I’m for anything that will reduce clutter and inappropriate messaging to unsuspecting or non-discriminating audiences like children). But more on that later, for now I’ll just say that I’m keeping my eye on these tests and for applications that can relate to smaller advertisers and those companies who operate on Main Street rather than Madison Avenue.

Later.

TelevisionWeek — Advertising News from Television and New Media: “� Copyright 2004 by Crain Communications “

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