TV: A direct medium

Google has made no secret of the fact that it wants to roll out its ad serving model across other channels - they've made forrays into radio with the acquisition of dMarc - and CEO Eric Schmidt recently detailed their plans for moving into television.

The picture he paints is based on Google's contextual model - so the broadcast stream would trigger relevant information / advertising on a web browser and eventually on screen.

This got me thinking about the broadcast model that television operates. You buy an audience and fire out messaging - but does it have to be that way? Why couldn't the online model tranfer to television?

With the advent IPTV the broadcast stream is effectively one to one.  Eventually, why not have ads served during the breaks individually, as they are online. You could then target ads specfically - have television ads frequency capped as online ads, have sequential executions served over time regardless of how frequently you watch television - if you don't switch on for a month the ads could still be served allowing for equal cover / frequency build across all viewing behaviours - light or heavy.

Once IPTV becomes mainstream you could have ads personalised on the fly - the streamed ads having an allowance for a name that is dynamically inserted at the set top box, for example, so that the ad addresses you directly.

Even further, consumers could register their interests to receive more targeted communication - or at least a higher proportion of advertising appropriate for them - minimising wastage for advertisers and irritation for consumers.

To steal from Mark Twain: reports of the death of the 30 second spot have been greatly exaggerated.

[Note: Should anyone need to be reminded of the power of film - this new Nike ad - A little less gravity - is fantastic.]