• Ad Age, Friday, November 16, 2007 11:30 AM

The new "A" word apt to replace "accountability" as a catch-phrase in next year's upfront will be "addressability." At an ad panel called "What Really Happened in This Year's Upfront," hosted by the Ad Club, Group M Chief Investment Officer Rino Scanzoni said the key to ad effectiveness on TV is to make viewers feel like they're being spoken to directly. "If someone sees the same spot nine times, they could say, 'I get it,' and move on," he says. "But if you're sending them a message they're likely interested in, they're less likely to skip. The numbers may be smaller, but the only way to make these emerging models work is to make those smaller numbers worth more."

His remarks come amid audience growth for cable TV and specialized media -- and the seemingly inexorable of broadcast prime time as the "go-to" medium. Broadcast nets are down 11% in ratings compared to last year, with live viewing down 2% and household penetration of digital-recording devices approaching 30%.That shifting model of relevance has made Scanzoni and others change the way they approach their media strategies. "Now there's more than 100 networks, most of them very targeted, and there's still two to three pieces of copy from each client."

Read the whole story at Ad Age »