• by Larissa Faw , September 28, 2015

There has never been more content for customers, yet this presents challenges for the ad-supported marketplace. 

Ad-blocking, data creep and the blurring line between entertainment and marketing were all discussed during Bloomberg Market's Advertising Week panel. 

Data has the potential for revolutionizing the advertising and entertainment industries, yet the industry isn’t using it in the most beneficial ways, says Anush Prabhu, chief channel planning and investment officer, Deutsch.  Advertisers are tracking faddish trends like viewers' preference for dress colors and avoiding longer-term and more meaningful analytics tasks to better serve viewers.  

Bloomberg's David Westin wondered why programming executives are not using viewer data to better refine its schedules. "They rate pilot episodes by asking people whether they like or dislike the show."

Instead, Westin recommends programmers analyze viewer habits and behaviors and then "create [content based] on what a person is like rather than put something out and react.” 

There's also the problem of understanding the context behind this information. Prabhu mentioned how he ordered Italian food from an online delivery service and a week later, the company sent him several links to Indian restaurants. "I guess they assumed by my name that I would like it, But I ordered Italian, never ordered Indian. So they took it to the wrong place," says Prabhu.  

There isn't much concern over the blurring between advertising and entertainment among panelists. Millennials, in particular, are unlikely to care about content marketing. BuzzFeed and Target were both cited as leaders in content marketing and even "Mad Men" launched its own branded clothing collection with Banana Repubilc. 

Many pointed to Target's four-minute live Grammy ad that showed a mini concert by Imagine Dragons as the industry standard. It was brilliant in "integrating into an already existing event to add to the experience," says Christine Fruechte, CEO, Colle + McVoy.