• by Lydia Loizides , Op-Ed Contributor, October 1, 2007

With most things in life, change takes a long time. There is no quick fix, magic potion or silver bullet. But I have to say that when it comes to technology, I always expect the unexpected. After all, Moore's Law has been proven time and again to be right -- so why should I doubt it now?

That is why I am at a loss at to why the cable industry, accompanied by the content community and advertising community, still have not managed to make the strides necessary to jump-start video-on-demand advertising as the primary source of revenue. Oh sure, there is some movement, but by comparison to other technology markets, I am watching a snail race.

Think about it this way: Comcast reported 250 million views in July 2007. For the sake of this argument, assume that a view is a full view (though I know it's not.) From what I gather from having asked my programming friends, VoD titles still require a 21-day processing time (very advertiser-unfriendly) and Rentrak does not report on session metrics related to ads (also very advertiser0unfriendly). The popularity of VoD has also made it susceptible to the general perils of content: title location is everything, much the same way that channel placement in the guide is crucial to drive viewership; technically limited programming guides force users to hunt for content under obscure or generic categories; and, new releases (like first-run episodes) drive most of the viewing, while library content lies fallow. Sound familiar?

In the world that we live in, where online is eating television's lunch, it astounds me that I am penning these complaints. I have been following VoD technology for close to ten years now, and I can honestly say that while the advances we have made in deployment should be applauded, the lack of technological enhancements that have been developed and adopted in order to grow this into a true revenue- generating business should be admonished. Moreover, I am astounded at the lack of "voice" from the advertising community. It is time, and I say this with all respect to the distributors of the content world, that advertisers stand up and take action. The time for committees is over and the time for action is here. Advertisers drive the majority of the content business; VoD is, and should be, no different.