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Moving From Local To Niche
Wednesday, July 26th, 2006
Recently in the lab, many of our clients and agency partners have been inquiring about the real effect that place shifting, the ability to remotely access home media over the Internet, will have on local advertising. Solutions like Orb Networks, Slingbox and Sony’s LocationFree TV stream your cable/satellite/PVR content to a PC wherever you are in the world. You no longer have to be sitting in your living room or bedroom to watch your cable or satellite television signals. The concern here is that the audience will no longer be local when viewing the local advertising that is supporting the broadcast content.
My immediate reaction in exploring these disruptive technologies in the lab is that there’s always something to learn when you evolve a content model. I naturally have assumed that the local spots would not lose their influence because even though the viewer may not physically be in their local city that local content still has the same relevance because your places-shifting hub is based in your home center.
But as I write this, sitting in a hotel in New York City, far away from my home TV, I’m struck by the same comfort and power I feel at home because I’m accessing my Los Angeles Direct Tivo content. The satisfaction does not come from viewing local information but rather from the ability to access this past Sunday’s episode of “The 4400”, which has been waiting for me since I hopped on my plane out here. I found myself bringing up USA Network’s website for the show, because a show bumper had beckoned me to mobile and other content available on the show’s website and it was so easy to launch a browser. So while watching my Slingbox wirelessly on the hotel bed, I consumed additional content besides the video stream. Science fiction geek yes, but also engaged, dedicated audience member.
We often talk about lean back and learn forward TV viewing, the passive vs. the active experience, but I was struck with how I was experiencing both. I was passively viewing my show, like I sometimes due in the living room or bedroom, while actively “tasking” with additional content. I can’t help thinking that there are explosive marketing opportunities here… or at least opportunities for consumers to contextually dig into a brand’s content when they’re prompted by a 30 second spot or a sponsored window environment. The ability to watch your chosen hour-long shows, sporting events or newscasts anywhere in the world while enjoying additional content, commerce and connection (all at your browser happy fingertips) is a very real and powerful solution.
Whether the current Internet will be able to support transmitting all broadcast media is debatable, but the pipe that the content travels by isn’t really going to matter. What’s more interesting is how powerful the content engagement will be if it’s targeted to me based on my interests, lifestyle, behavior, rather then just specifically the region I live in. I’m a sci-fi junkie, so I’ll respond to sci-fi commercials, offers and opportunities wherever I am. Yes, it’s true. I have a few Star Trek action figures…
There will always be value in local advertising, especially as we’ve seen the web take on an even more powerful role in providing information on local hotspots, deals and opportunities triggered by search inquiries. But we haven’t even begun to experience the benefits that these direct connection solutions will provide. We need to close that loop.
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July 28th, 2006 at 11:00 am
Off the top of my head, I have to wonder, just how large of a creative library are we going to need?
Speaking in the terms of contextual engagement, a Coke ad on ESPN would be different than a Coke ad on Sci-Fi.
To address my own questions, it will come down do does engagement driven contextual segmentation have better ROI for ad dollar. Because then that would justify 30 different spots vs 3 spots.
Still, how big of a creative library are we going to need to address -
Contextual considerations based on content, interests, lifestyle, behavior
VOD, On Demand
Online Video
Once we have a consumer engaged, are they going to stay engaged if they see the same VOD branded content, the same contextul spot and the same online video content?
Just a bit of thinking outloud, anyone else addressing this?
August 4th, 2006 at 7:26 am
Herb,
I think you raise a good point. I think one of the issues with creating an integrated campaign, syndicating content across multiple channels is that you are reaching different people across their preferred channel of engagement. And if you do it right, the messages on these different channels could holistically be created in such a way that they support each other and perhaps push to a particular response opportunity…say all roads lead to the web portal for a commerce or RFI opportunity. These messages will all be tailored to the platform and audience they are speaking to rather then just the same content bigger or smaller. You still need to manage your content per medium and leverage its communication strengths and the behaviors of the users engagement style on that channel.
We are talking about this in the lab now…that a 30 second spot on TV, needs to be created differently then the long form it might push to on a Tivo or I-AD solution and that a mobile engagement needs to be created differently as well due to size of screen and the context of the viewer (on line at starbucks vs. watching in the living room.)
September 14th, 2006 at 7:20 am
Dear Lori,
First and Foremost,i´d like to thank you for the overwhelming lecture you did at last Boot Camp I was attending in Los angeles Last July.
I Work for Globo Tv in Brazil and i´m really interested in showing them your presentation at NATPE where you demonstrate with graphics and pictures the new reality of this industry that nobody knows anymore what to research…..and focus…
I´m point is: Could you help me sending me your presentation for them to watch it. I mean, what we´re presented in the screen,..the slides….pictures…etc.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely yours,
Fábio Alexandre
Production Manager Tv Globo Ltda
Brazil
55-21-9384-2216