• by Tom Hespos , February 9, 2004

I'm a Star Trek fan. In years past, that meant catching Star Trek: The Next Generation, on UPN once a week and the occasional episode of the original series in syndication. These days, it's figuring out where I can catch any of four different TV series, where to buy any of at least a dozen video games, checking out StarTrek.com and krillions of fan sites on the web. If I were geekier, I might check out conventions. I'm scared to get Tivo because that would mean hours upon hours of Star Trek content waiting for me when I got home from work, pulled from UPN, the SciFi Channel and Spike TV. I'd never leave the couch!

These days, interests are so scattered across multiple media that an advertiser's need to connect with a particular audience involves so many channels that it becomes tough to reach a significant number of desirable prospects with any one of those channels. They're not the only ones having trouble managing the abundance of channels. Consumers are, too.

That's why there's a market for such things as Tivo. They help us manage choice. You can see analogs for such choice management tools in other media. Bloggers who cover specific subjects scour all forms of media - especially Internet-based channels - aggregate topic-specific content in one place, and can make their websites "one stop shops" for anyone interested in a given topic. Internet and satellite radio have found an abundance of content within increasingly narrower niches. Years ago, AOR (Album Oriented Rock) would be considered a niche for a radio station. These days, rock music is so fragmented itself, and the number of channels so vast, that specialty channels can exist that couldn't possibly sustain themselves 20 years ago. (Check out XM Radio. They have channels for hard rock, heavy rock, acoustic rock, rock from unsigned artists and a host of other rock channels.)

Put aside for a second the idea that this presents major problems for advertisers looking to reach a specific type of prospect. Think about what this does to the consumer.

When confronted by this abundance of choice, some consumers thrive. Others, who are used to fewer choices, become frustrated in trying to find the content they like. Some are used to being spoon-fed (the "600 channels and nothing's on syndrome"), others are not up to the technical challenge of using content aggregators like Tivo. These folks are dragged kicking and screaming into a world with a wide range of media choices. (Maybe they'll come around one day.)

As our media model continues to evolve, the one thing that becomes clear is that the aggregators represent enormous opportunity to give consumers both relief and control. For advertisers, this equals opportunity. If Tivo doesn't turn out to be the advertising opportunity of the century, the opportunity will lie with a competitor who does something very similar.

Then there are the aggregators who can pull together audiences across a huge multitude of channels. We see this already with behavioral marketing tools like Claria and WhenU. Perhaps we can see similar opportunities emerging from network-wide implementations of tools from companies like Tacoda and Revenue Science.

But what's the endgame? How soon can we expect content aggregation and organization across major channels - both "push" channels like television and radio with "pull" channels like the web, opt-in email and video on demand? Can something emerge that will serve as a window to several or all of these channels, pulling together audiences so that advertisers can find and address them more easily? I guess only time will tell.