• by Mark Lieberman , Op-Ed Contributor, February 7, 2011

There's nothing like a quick jump across the pond to remind you how small the world -- that is, our world of media -- actually is. And how quickly it's changing.

I've just returned from London, where I spent last week meeting with media execs, data miners, and entrepreneurs. The trip was my third in the past year, and like my previous visits, an invigorating and eye-opening experience. I found a city and a media sector exploding with opportunities.

The week started off at the Gartner Business Intelligence Summit, where I had the opportunity to speak to a roomful of CIOs. The Gartner conference (or gardening conference, as my seatmate on American Airlines misheard) focused on data mining and business intelligence solutions generally.  The lead-in perfectly sums up the conference: "Making optimal decisions based on shared and accurate facts, not unproven assumptions, is key to gaining competitive advantage in this nascent market reality."

Sound familiar to those of us in the advertising accountability business?

The conference and later, unrelated meetings left me thoroughly impressed by the vibrancy of the tech sector in the U.K. Of course the ad community there has long enjoyed a reputation for leading-edge creativity, but it was the start-ups that reminded me of Silicon Alley and Valley. From new video-syndication models to social-network apps for EPGs, we're going to be seeing some exciting new innovation coming from interesting sources across the Atlantic.

The media leadership, too, struck me as exceptionally tech-savvy. At a meeting with the head of a major broadcaster, I heard about the need for quantifiable and understandable metrics for success, in any field.  My colleague cited past successes instilling such discipline in the public and private sectors, and saw no reason why metrics couldn't help television networks get through our challenging times. He seemed to appreciate that we'll need more than just ratings to provide the accountability desired by advertisers. 

Speaking of ratings, the industry ratings business in the U.K. is called BARB -- the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board -- and it's the product of a joint industry committee, unlike here in the U.S. where the ratings business is controlled by one monopoly.  Perhaps there's an idea in the making that we Americans can emulate (and one that the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement is moving us toward).  Is there an opportunity to supplement BARB with the needed accountability metrics developing in the U.S.?

By the end of the week, after countless conversations about the state of our industry here and there, I came to a not-so-surprising conclusion. Despite the different paths we've taken to get where we are, we're all -- on both sides of the Atlantic -- suffering the same growing pains, and grappling with the same challenges:  fickle, time-shifting TV viewers watching too many programs on too many screens; an explosion of networks, programs and alternative media for advertisers to reach the same audiences but on different media; and new technologies like addressable advertising.

Bringing home the point of how fast the world is changing and juxtaposed against all the television talk, I found myself mesmerized by the crisis in Egypt as it unfolded on CNN and the BBC in the reception area at every meeting we attended.  Reading Shelly Palmer's musings about technology's impact on world events,  I couldn't help but think about how new technologies are doing so much more than just improving accountability for advertisers.   <