Executives Hope Marriage of Interactive TV and Consumers Will Prosper
February 15, 2000
By JANE L. LEVERE
Build it, and they will come, advertising executives seem to be saying about interactive television, according to a new survey.
At the moment, interactive television is still a nascent market, covering anything from full-fledged Internet access over television, as with Microsoft's Web TV system, to more modest methods for viewers to interact with television programming, such as clicking on an icon during a commercial to order products.
Given that such services have yet to take off, the interest being shown by the executives seems to be somewhat unusual, says the Myers Group of New York, which conducted the study and recently sponsored a conference on interactive television in Manhattan.
"I've never seen the advertising community respond so proactively to new technology," said Jack Myers, the chairman and chief executive of the Myers Group. "In the past, they've been somewhat behind the curve in terms of new technology, reactive rather than proactive, but with interactive television, they're way ahead of the curve."
The survey found that 94 percent of the 500 advertising agency, media- buying and planning executives who responded to the survey said it was important to explore interactive television advertising.
Of just the media planners and buyers surveyed, 98 percent called these opportunities important. The survey was conducted late last summer, before the proposed $165 billion deal between America Online and Time Warner.
Jim Spaeth, president of the Advertising Research Foundation, said that it was "amazing that the generally conservative industry is poised to jump on the opportunity" offered by interactive television.
The advertising industry, he noted "usually takes a 'show me' attitude; it can be pretty skeptical."
But the findings came as no surprise to others in the industry.
"Everybody's got to be interested in this, to better understand where convergence is going, or they shouldn't be in this business," said Ira Carlin, chairman of Universal McCann, the media arm of the McCann-Erickson World Group, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies.
David Verklin, chief executive of Carat North America, a unit of Aegis P.L.C, suggested that interactive TV was generating tremendous interest because "people like me are trying to figure out how advertising will look two or three years from now."
"Most people are not feeling great about the future of the 30-second commercial," he said.
The Myers survey also asked the advertising executives to evaluate 48 broadcast and cable network brands.
For relevance, effective communication and fulfillment of expectations, the advertising executives picked the A & E channel first, followed by ESPN and the Discovery Channel. CNN, NBC, E Entertainment Television, Fox, Nickelodeon, Lifetime and MTV followed.
The executives' choices differ from those of 6,500 households with cable or satellite television that Myers surveyed in late spring. Those viewers picked the Discovery Channel No. 1 , followed by the Weather Channel, Learning Channel, PBS and the History Channel.
Mr. Myers said that although these findings represent "a testament to cable's ascension in the advertising community," they also reveal a significant gap between the views of advertisers and consumers.
"Consumers look for what serves their needs, while advertisers look for high ratings and highly targeted demographics," he said.
Using data compiled from both the advertising and viewer surveys, as well as other research, the Myers Group has also identified what it considers emerging cable and online brands with the greatest potential for rapid advertising growth. America Online, E and the Weather Channel top the list this year, while the Game Show Network, the Biography Channel and DoubleClick are rated the top three for 2001.
Mr. Myers projects online advertising spending will grow 80 percent this year, to $4.32 billion. And he expects that America Online will capture "the major share" of this growth.
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