• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer, October 29, 2008

Speaking at MediaPost’s OMMA Video conference in Los Angeles Wednesday, Larry Kramer of Black Arrow described a system of interactive advertising that sounds quite a lot like behavioral targeting, although Kramer didn’t use that term explicitly. Touting Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) Kramer said cable is best positioned to be the first interactive medium to provide scale and profitability for video-on-demand (compared to alternatives like broadband and mobile), noting “cable is more mature right now, and is ready to generate more significant earnings than anyone else.” One of the most profitable forms of advertising, he said, is addressable advertising that capitalizes on the user’s control of the experience to gather more information about their preferences and then serve even more precisely targeted advertising. He added, “sometimes the audience themselves can choose what they’re seeing,” consciously registering their preferences with the advertiser. Some of what Kramer described was reminiscent of the kind of behavioral targeting offered by companies like BrightLine.