• by June 11, 2007

The annual PROMAX/BDA conference for television promoters, marketers and designers, getting underway tomorrow in New York, is taking on the air of an online media event this year, with speakers representing Google, YouTube, Second Life, AOL, DoubleClick and other key Internet players.

"TV marketers and designers are not just about television anymore," said Lee Hunt, PROMAX's interim managing director, who played a key role in setting the direction and shape of the conference sessions. "All these content platforms are becoming more important to the TV experience."

Recent evidence of the changing atmosphere include last week's Hearst-Argyle/YouTube and LIN TV/VMIX video-sharing deals.

For Hunt and PROMAX/BDA, providing the lead on "all the changes going on in the industry" means panels that address not only how broadcasters use the Internet for promotional purposes, but also how their content gets repurposed.

The latter topic is gaining such popularity with TV marketers that Hunt revealed plans to add a couple more companies to a panel that was originally to feature only Jordan Hoffner, head of premium content partnerships at YouTube.

While Hoffner and the others speak, a concurrent panel examining at the "Future of Online Advertising" will feature Ari Paparo, vice president of rich media at DoubleClick, and Fred McIntyre, senior vice president of AOL Video.

Also, in what may be a first, Second Life avatars from three continents will host a panel on marketing in virtual worlds, with executives from Showtime and The Weather Channel as speakers.

At the same time, Google executives will conduct a primer on Internet buying for local broadcasters--and in what Hunt termed one of the more anticipated panels, John Miller, chief marketing officer of NBC Universal Television Group, will run "Intersections 360," "a big overview that encompasses everything"--including digital specialist, media agency, research maven, president of sales, demographer and expert on consumer loyalty. The media agency representative will be Aaron Cohen, executive vice president of Horizon Media.