• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, September 19, 2008

The CEO of MediaBank, which provides systems that allow buyers and sellers to conduct automated transactions, said Thursday that the company has the technology in place to process interactive TV ad buys. But the cart is essentially being placed before the horse, since advertisers aren't ready to use the system.

"We want to be one of the main facilitators that help advertisers use interactive TV once interactive TV is ready for advertisers," said Brad Keywell, who spoke before an industry gathering to discuss the emerging medium.

Keywell said much of the holdup results from with buyers and sellers sorting out issues as basic as how to price interactive TV advertising, how best to capitalize on the possibilities creatively, and where the medium fits into a media plan. There's also the hurdle of developing a common language to allow transactions to be conducted.

"We believe we'll be the leaders in enabling interactive TV [buying] to work," Keywell said after his presentation. "There needs to be a glue behind all this interactive TV innovation, so that buyers can efficiently understand, assess and act upon these new opportunities."

With its technology ready, Keywell said MediaBank is working with clients to define the terminology and the workflow to allow them to move forward.

Starcom MediaVest Group is a large MediaBank client, among other major media-buying agencies. Backed by deep venture capital financing and a mandate to bring innovation to Madison Avenue's media processing systems, MediaBank has emerged as the central challenger to the dominance of industry stalwart Donovan Data Systems. In fact, MediaBank and Donovan are finalists in a major review for a new long-term data processing contract for all of Interpublic's agencies, and during MediaPost's OMMA Expo conference in New York on Thursday, a top Interpublic executive, seemed to tip a hand in favor of MediaBank. During a panel discussion on venture funding of new and emerging media enterprises, Magna's Brian Wieser suggested that a new media platform like Twitter would have a difficult time building scale with traditional Madison Avenue shops unless it was integrated with "Donovan and MediaBank." The reference implied that MediaBank was just as much an industry standard as long dominant Donovan. Interpublic's decision on its $25 billion plus media data processing review is expected any day now.

Beyond the waiting game with interactive TV, MediaBank's platforms facilitate the soup-to-nuts of the ad-buying process for print, radio, TV and digital. The company processes transactions valued at more than $20 billion annually.

Also in the emerging-media space, Keywell said the systems are ready to accommodate deals involving addressable advertising and dynamic ad insertion, once buyers and sellers are ready.

Keywell gave a general presentation before the first of MPG's "Collaborative Alliance" meetings, a forum that will meet quarterly to discuss trends and share ideas in the interactive media space. The gathering is the brainchild of Mitch Oscar, the new executive vice president of televisual applications at MPG.

Oscar had held a similar event in his prior role at Carat until he left in June. Thursday's "Alliance" gathering offered a different feel, as it was held outside agency offices and drew a standing-room-only, buzzing crowd at Chelsea's Hellen Mills Theater.

In his presentation, Keywell said Chicago-based MediaBank's transaction platforms far outstrip what he called "legacy systems" in what they can process, and said they have "prevented" the efficient trading of new-media advertising.

"People are now exploring not whether they are going to (use interactive advertising), but how they're going to do it," Keywell said.

Keywell said the fact that MediaBank is ready to facilitate business when advertisers are prepared is progress. In the past, he said, new buying options have come along--but the technology wasn't ready to facilitate the process.

"There would be huge innovation but the systems couldn't support it," he said.

Joe Mandese contributed to this story.