• by Christine Peterson , July 31, 2006

With the advent of any new technology or media solution comes an array of challenges and opportunities, often so many that addressing them all at once is impossible. One way to begin overcoming the hurdles is to prioritize them and tackle them in an orderly fashion. With the adoption of online video in the marketing place, both from a consumer and advertiser standpoint, our industry is forced to attempt to answer every question simultaneously.

I thought I'd take a step back and use this forum to return to square one and ask the question: What is the single largest challenge facing online video today? In past articles I've harped on the need for metrics, begged for standardization, and dared creative folks to conceive new and more engaging ways to utilize the real estate. However, I'm inclined to believe there is an even greater challenge, which lies about ten steps before we talk about creative, implementation or measurement.

Who is responsible for the strategic planning and buying of online video?

With all the hype about changing consumer behavior and continued media fragmentation, everyone wants a piece of the online video pie. Digital folks feel very comfortable planning and buying online video, but recognize the growth opportunities when they partner more with the TV groups. TV buyers want to expand their expertise and maintain their budgets within video, but face challenges when addressing execution and measurement. Additionally, if network groups are managing the buy, does this place the strategy in the hands of the traditional planners? These questions translate to the publishing industry as well. Agencies and vendors are currently addressing this in a myriad of ways, but most solutions still appear to be in beta format. Separation vs. integration, disconnected P&Ls, turf disputes, varying agendas; all of these are worthwhile concerns, but the advertiser only cares about one thing: What's the best use of my media dollars?

I have my own opinions on what the resolution should be, and utilize this process at my own agency, but I'm more interested in hearing other opinions. Therefore, rather than spout my own ideas, I'd prefer for you to please share your thoughts with me, and I'll promise to follow up in a subsequent article with an unbiased overview of the differing approaches in our industry. You can decide for yourself which is the best solution to the single greatest challenge for online video... for today, anyway.