THIRD ANNUAL SCREENS ISSUE - MediaPost

AGNOSTICISM
FOUR MYTHS
OF VIDEO
ADVERTISING
CONVERGENCE
BY SCOTT FERBER
More than one industry
prognosticator has
declared 2012 the “Year of
Convergence.” And in many
ways, I agree. We do seem
to be at the tipping point of
consumer adoption — with
over 91 million smartphone
users and roughly 10
percent of all households
with access to connected
televisions or devices.
Audiences are clearly ready
and willing to view wherever
and whenever it’s most convenient.
Manufacturers, as
witnessed at this year’s CES,
are ready to roll with connected,
high-quality devices,
many of which were only beta
dreams at last year’s show. But
the entire media ecosystem
must get on-board in order to
sustain a viable “converged”
business model that allows all
players to thrive.
Will this happen?
Absolutely. Will it happen
tomorrow? Probably not. The
notion that a consumer-led
transition to screen-agnostic
viewing will translate just as
easily to the media world is just
one of the myths surrounding
convergence. By debunking
these myths, I hope to
inspire others to leverage the
significant benefits attendant
with speaking to consumers
whenever and wherever they
choose to view content.
MYTH 1: Convergence Will
Rapidly Change the Way
We Plan and Buy Video
As stated above, while screenagnostic
consumer viewing will
become ubiquitous, ingrained
business practices of the ecosystem
must change before
true convergence can occur.
Content creators must figure
out how to profitably produce
and distribute programming
across multiple platforms.
Publishers must invest in tools
to help fully monetize inventory
across screens. Data providers
and research companies
must begin to standardize
services across media. And
finally, agencies must create
systems to allow them to adopt
a device-agnostic approach
to planning and buying media
that maximizes bottom-line ROI
for advertisers.
MYTH 2: Convergence
Will Make Agency Media
Buying Extraordinarily
Complex
There is still much work to
be done to determine which
processes, metrics and best
practices become industry
standard. This process will
not be easy. But in reality
after the initial pains of merging
disappear and fluidity
increases between insulated
agency divisions, agency
workflow will streamline,
agency workflow will streamline
and become more efficient.
Technology will absorb
much of the complexity of
cross-media measurement,
analytics and reporting, allowing
agency talent to focus on
broader strategy and service.
MYTH 3: Convergence in
Media Selling and Buying
Has Already Failed
See Myth 1. For those who
point to disappointing results
among media companies who
have tried to establish true
cross-platform sales divisions,
I would argue that if anything,
they were merely ahead of the
curve. Not all players within an
ecosystem always move at the
same speed. Even the smartest
sales forces and forwardthinking
media organizations
cannot fully succeed if they do
not have access to decisionmakers
empowered to make
cross-platform decisions, or
availability of data that holistically
measures performance
and ROI. Demand drives supply.
So often, the most innovative,
industry-changing ideas
are deprioritized for immediate
revenue drivers.
MYTH 4: Convergence
Suggests That All Screens
Are Created Equal
As research recently cited, convergence
doesn’t mean that all
screens deliver the same performance
metrics, branding or
scale. Understanding the individual
strengths of each device,
and figuring out the proper
balance based on advertisers’
goals, is crucial to realizing the
benefits that convergence can
offer. If implemented correctly,
a multi-device approach can
send performance against a
given metric soaring, while
decreasing cost per desired
outcome. Convergence allows
a more seamless, holistic
conversation with consumers
most interested in hearing
from you. The shift toward
audience buying as opposed
to contextual-based buying
will be crucial to fully capitalizing
on the consumer-centric
approach to marketing. On
an individual basis, an emerging
platform might make little
sense to a given advertiser;
emerging video platforms are
seldom able to carry the majority
of a campaign for most
brands. By incorporating them
into the overall audience mix,
however, an advertiser can
take advantage of the unique
benefits of each, while still
achieving a campaign’s performance
objectives at scale and
on budget.
Scott Ferber is chairman and CEO of Videology.
Spring 2012 MEDIA MAGAZINE 43