• by David Goetzl , April 13, 2007

The CEO of the massive media buying GroupM operation said Thursday he would prefer the industry find a more efficient way to buy and sell TV time rather than support Google's entry. While Irwin Gotlieb acknowledged that the Internet giant could help speed transactions, he said it's puzzling why the industry would allow an outsider to gain a beachhead.

"I personally think it would be a sad reflection on the competence of our business," he noted, speaking at the Television Bureau of Advertising's annual marketing conference. It would serve as an indication that programmers and buyers can't solve their own problems.

Google has a deal with EchoStar to implement a system for buying, selling and measuring ads on Dish Network. It is reportedly in negotiations with the other major satellite operator, DirecTV, to do the same.

Gotlieb also questioned the need for another Internet force, eBay, to enter the buying-selling process, at least by implication. He said he's opposed to an auction-type system where networks could bid for an advertiser's dollars. (A group of buy-siders has been championing an eBay Media Marketplace, which Gotlieb does not support and appears moribund).

"In an auction contest, everybody's dollar is equivalent to everybody else's dollar."

And that idea is in opposition to GroupM's core competency--where the group pools mass amounts to gain better pricing and opportunities for its clients, Gotlieb said. An auction would counteract the relationships that a GroupM has cultivated with sellers to gain the leg up that clients want. (The eBay system was to start with national cable buys, not the spot market, the focus of the TVB event).

Another influential buyer, Starcom CEO John Muszynski, expressed similar thoughts recently when he said his agency has worked hard to develop partnerships with sellers that could lose importance with an auction, or even an online exchange system.

"To take us back to a pure commodity exchange is a waste of time," he said at the ANA TV forum last month.

Gotlieb, however, said he was not wholly opposed to an electronic exchange system, citing "high-volume areas" where it could be a "useful process." That would seem to be in line with what the pro-eBay-system group has been advocating: Employing the exchange to move large amounts of run-of-the-mill inventory efficiently in order to free up time to concentrate on deals generated from relationships and partnerships.

Yet Gotlieb cast doubt on whether an exchange could be effective in "stewardship" of buys, presumably ensuring that purchases run as scheduled and meet ratings guarantees and other specifications. He offered a muted endorsement of the TVB's attempt to develop an online system for buying and selling spot time, known as TVB ePort, calling it "a step in the right direction."

TVB's Abby Auerbach, who is spearheading the system's development, said she was "happy to have Irwin's support," and added that it would provide some momentum.

In general, Gotlieb was less than sanguine about the local buying process, expressing frustration with its measurement systems and lack of efficiency. "Just unacceptable" was how he described the fact that so many markets are still measured via Nielsen diaries. And he called for improvements in how a station's sales and traffic systems are synchronized, which he indicated complicates the process.

"We have to make it easier," Auerbach said.