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on interactive TV
Different creative geared to unique demographics
By David Everitt
When it comes to the prospects for interactive TV, one nagging doubt keeps cropping up. After decades of enjoying the medium’s passive nature, why would viewers suddenly want to interact with their TVs?
This concern raises questions not only about programming but also about targeted advertising.
Interactive ads typically require viewers to click on various products or icons to get more specific information.
Are there really many people willing to do this?
Two companies, united in a new partnership, claim they have a way around this possible problem. SeaChange International and Visible World have designed a targeted-advertising system that they are promoting as more consumer-friendly.
"When people talk about ITV, they always seem to be talking about people interacting with their sets. In this system of ours, the television is interacting," says Bill Borrelle, Visible World’s vice president of marketing.
"Other targeted-advertising systems," says Joe Ambeault, SeaChange’s director of advertising, "require that viewers make selections. They ask viewers to change their TV-watching behavior, and that’s a risky endeavor."
The new system is expected to get on the air some time in 2002. Like other targeted-ad schemes, it will deliver specific versions of a commercial that will relate to specific information about a particular viewing consumer–income, location, marital status, etc.
According to Borrelle, the process begins with a strategic assessment on the part of the advertiser as to whether its campaign can profit from this kind of approach.
If the answer is yes, "the creative team storyboards the ad just as they would do now," Borrelle says. "Then they have to decide what components of the commercial they should play with, perhaps alternate voice-overs, or whether it could be in English or Spanish, a version targeted at households with children or households in a specific geographical area."
Different versions of a fast food commercial, for instance, could feature different meals to keep the campaign fresh. A car commercial could be accompanied by various musical tracks to appeal to different audiences, and a financial services ad could be updated by information on the latest market conditions.
"This gives you the freedom that you have in direct marketing that you don’t currently have in television," Borrelle says.
The commercial is then shot, both the basic ad and the replacement material. After editing, all the material is handed over to Visible World, which packages the various options.
The actual assembly of the various versions is done on the SeaChange server. The system matches specific configurations of the ad with viewer information relayed from the cable operator.
The targeted ads are supposed to appear not only in standard digital-cable programming but in video-on-demand offerings as well.
"You won’t see it in the VOD movies from the studios, but you will find it in VOD based on broadcast or library content," says Ambeault.
"First, it should be found in news content, such as news on demand or sports on demand. Then it should also be integrated into programming from cable networks that are offering library content on demand, such as Court TV, BBC America and the Scripps Networks."
One concern is expense. Creating multiple versions of an ad and then hiring Visible World and SeaChange to manage it all–isn’t that going to jack up the budget?
"Definitely," Borrelle says. "But in order to go this route, you have to believe that making the ad more relevant will more than offset the expense. No advertisers are going to want to do this if they’re not interested in targeting their campaign. You have to have an appreciation that targeting will improve business."
January 2, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
-David Everitt covers television and technology for Media Life, writing from Huntington, N.Y.
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