New York -- Canoe
Ventures' recent shut-down of its interactive TV advertising business is not
the death knell to the ITV industry that everyone fears it is; in fact, it may
even propel the industry forward.
That was according
to the "What's Next for Interactive TV Ads?" panel, moderated by Mark Robichaux, Multichannel News editor in chief, during B&C/Multichannel
News' Advanced Advertising 5.0: Setting the 2012 Agenda here on Wednesday
afternoon.
"In terms of
Canoe, I don't think it affects anything from the advertising
perspective," said Mitch Oscar, executive VP, televisual applications for
MPG.
Oscar argued that
Canoe's constant attempts to change the ITV industry had forced everyone else
to wait around. "Canoe went to reinvent the wheel, so that everyone could
get to all the operators and agencies all together and get a good sense of what
was going on," said Oscar. "Canoe made everyone stand in line...we
can move forward now."
Jeff Siegel,
senior VP, worldwide advertising at Rovi, on the other hand, thought Canoe made
a valiant attempt to push the industry forward. "I'd love to have seen
Canoe succeed; I think it was the right idea," he said, although he agreed
that the loss of the company from the ITV world won't affect Rovi. "We
have our own business."
Canoe's loss is
everyone else's gain. A Harris poll conducted last year said 79% of TV viewers
want ITV programming and 73% want two-way interaction with advertising. Siegel
said that the initial aftermath of the Canoe announcement caused some
advertisers to wonder about the future of ITV. "That couldn't be further from
the truth," he said.
Peter Low, president & CEO of Ensequence, which helps companies build ITV
businesses, said that 20% consumers that have interactivity available will use
it. "That's a good number," said Low. "That 20% uses interactivity for 15-20
minutes... that's a good number." Low said that 15-20 minutes makes time-spent
viewing go up, which in turn helps ad rates grow.
Dave Del Beccaro,
president & CEO of Music Choice, said his company has developed a 24/7
interactive broadcast TV network called SWRV. "Everything that happens on the
television screen is a function of interactivity," said Del Beccaro. "Customers
interact through their tablets, through their [laptops], through their phones."
Del Beccaro said this summer Music Choice will be working with a major operator
that will allow the viewer to get access to "all the potential content that
could possibly make sense" for that particular show through their tablet or
phone and play it back through the VOD system on their
television. "The tablet and the phone is the technology," said Del
Beccaro, who argued that the industry should be embracing "second screen"
technology.
Kevin Smith, group
VP, spotlight integrated media sales for Comcast Spotlight -- who has executed
more than 1,000 ITV campaigns (Smith said it was closer to 2,000) for clients
and served over 2.7 billion impressions -- said the key is maximizing the value
of ITV and other integrated media campaigns. "What works the most out of
that integrated campaign?" said Smith. "I think we're learning what
that is."
