• by Wayne Friedman , January 8, 2008

LAS VEGAS -- At a business conference known for launching cool new entertainment devices and services, a number of media agency executives discussed how one much-maligned entertainment platform would make a strong comeback: Television.

During a session at the International Consumer Electronics Show called "Reinventing Advertising: Broadcast vs. the New Platforms: VOD, PVR, Broadband and Mobile," panelists talked about the continuing power of television, especially with new waves of measurement information coming from cable operators gleaning more information from their set-top boxes.

"TV has a chance to make a serious comeback," said Tracey Scheppach, senior vice president and video innovations director for Starcom USA. "My prediction is that this is the year for data--data from the TV side. I see a data revolution."

She notes that working with cable operators, marketers will increasingly use census data--not from a panel of users--which will help agencies send ads directly into a home. This new model of TV, she says, will be much more powerful than the Internet.

Still, Warren Schlichting, senior vice president of new business development for Comcast Spotlight, warned: "We certainly can push out more data. The question is: Are the agencies capable of handling it?"

Scheppach responded: "Bring it on. If the cable guys are loosening up this data, the [advertising] money will flow." For over a year now, Starcom has been working with some 300,000 homes in the Los Angeles area from Charter Communications cable systems.

Beyond just MSOs, Lori Schwartz, senior vice president and director of emerging media of Interpublic Emerging Media Lab, says measurement data should be inclusive of other devices, not just cable set-top boxes. "People are leaving school with their Xboxes as their set-top boxes," she says.

The panel agreed that cross-platform advertising deals will be of growing importance--especially to TV-centric media companies. But this requires all sorts of measurement hurdles--different streams of data--to be more uniform.

Still, one of the oldest, most dominant media platforms will win out.

"The next couple of years--what is really going to surge forward is accountable television," says David Del Beccaro, president/CEO of Music Choice. "Television is going to make a huge comeback. It is going to be much more accountable. It'll be much easier to be targeted. Two or three years from now, TV is going to be stronger."