• by Jack Feuer , November 28, 2006

Watch the  Screens - All the Screens

In 2007, it's time to climb in, hook up, and, like "Star Wars" icon Luke Skywalker, trust your feelings. And get ready for new ways to track it all, because the online media map will get more bewildering. Media agency executives, online players, and assorted pundits searching for the "new next" in the next 12 months see a variety of trends:

>Veni, Video, Vici. Convergence isn't coming - it's here, and in 2007, it's going to take control. Jeff Minsky, director of emerging media platforms for OMD Digital, looks at it this way: "Multiple devices connect TV to PC, the concept of IPTV, and not just the current opportunities but a plethora of different devices from TiVo in Media Centers to Intel Viiv-enabled PCs and the Apple product Steve Jobs announced last fall." In short, Minsky says, "It will be anachronistic to call it 'TV.' Nothing is real until it hits the 30 percent penetration number, and DVRs will hit that in the next year or 18 months."

Minsky adds, "Streaming video inventory is growing dramatically and more people are broadband-enabled." That means that media content goes from three networks to hundreds of cable and satellite channels, and millions of video portals and opportunities. "The biggest change of all is clients building streaming video into their planning as separate line items. It's the most emerged of emerging media - just the newest day part," Minsky says.

>Infinite MySpace. The new next in social networking won't just aggregate mutual interests and personal information. It will go way beyond that. Marketers will rejoice, predicts Lori Schwartz, senior vice president/director of emerging media at Interpublic's Emerging Media Lab. Social networking "will be a little bit more ordered and a little bit older," she says, adding, "I think women are going to emerge as important targets in this area. For marketers, there is a great opportunity to create relationships with those kinds of properties that go far beyond traditional ad placement into product integration."

The "share and discover sites" will get a lot of play in 2007, notes Yew Leong Lee, associate business director for Starcom MediaVest Group in Singapore, who cites 43things.com, noting that less than six months ago, the site had only 100,000 people but now claims 640,000. Lee also singles out wefeelfine.org, a site that calls itself "an exploration of human emotion." Like this one from a 19-year-old girl from Guelph, Ontario, Canada: "I am a stupid young girl and have been lying to everyone since I can remember but it'd make me feel better if I told you something."

>Get In-World. Amanda Richman, senior vice president/group director of digital connections for MediaVest, sees a year filled with in-world programming gambits. These include what she calls "the convergence of television programming with emerging virtual-world technology, creating a parallel world that enables consumers to 'live' the world they see on-air." MediaVest clients are already involved in MTV's virtual "Laguna Beach," an online community that transports viewers to the show's Orange County, Calif. location. There fans not only virtually live in the same environment as the cast but essentially become "stars" themselves.

>What, More Metrics? "A trend that continues to evolve is in data transparency," observes Kurt Unkel, director of data and analytics for GM Planworks. He explains it thus: "Advertisers share results beyond just click-through with publishers, but publishers also share data that may exist on their sites that can demonstrate value. We are currently doing this for some clients, but the challenge has been to get the publishers to open up to this. I think we'll see that shift in 2007."

Sure, there are surprises lurking just beyond the bend of time. After all, if someone asked you in 2002 what an iPod was and what it meant, would you know what to say? Better keep your avatar active, and watch the screen. Any screen. All of the screens.