• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 4, 2018

Should TV networks fear -- or promote -- blockchain advertising platforms? Some senior media execs believe big digital media companies including Google, Facebook and others might do well to employ some blockchain reality -- that it would enable them to be more competitive in luring more traditional TV advertising dollars.

Blockchain technology enables an anonymous, decentralized record of transactions. The positive for some is that with this, it brings much-needed brand safety and fraud avoidance. So that's good for marketers.

But this would come at a cost to some big digital media owners. The likes of Google or Facebook live in walled gardens when it comes to their property, cross-device data, media inventory, and creative formats that work exclusively on their own platforms, according to Charlie Fiordalis, managing partner at MediaCom.

What about TV networks? Many believe they don't exactly live in walled gardens. Creative formats are pretty standard. Thirty- and 15-second commercials are still of value, but other areas could be considered walled.

TV networks can be protective of media inventory levels and pricing, but considering third-party metrics and other data sources is less of a challenge than determining what Facebook or Google can offer marketers in a given period.

The digital media future will truly arrive, Fiordalis believes, when media can anonymously track a customer across platforms and deliver personalized ads without any personally identifiable information.

Fiordalis poses this question: “Why will the walled gardens play along, you ask? Because we'll make them, but also because it's in their best interest to finally gain access to TV budgets.” That's still the bottom line -- even as digital media advertising continues to rise at double-digit percentage increases.

And he says traditional TV can benefit as well as thrive and maintain a strong position for its $70 billion TV advertising market.

Fiordalis says: “Universal audience management will enable the new walled gardens to match the breakthrough power of TV by assembling pieces across the fractured marketplace into media buys that match the weight of TV with the targeting and accountability of digital.”

Well, that has always been the hope. Big digital media companies will also need to consider the positive effects of “assembling” fractionalization parts of their growing world. Maybe they could give a little back.