• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, December 3, 2008

How are David Verklin and Canoe Ventures doing? Call him in three years.

That's what the chief executive of the cable addressable advertising venture says -- especially about the technology marketers really want, the one where they can send different commercial messages to different households watching the same program.

Long neglected by cable operators, local advertising sales are finally getting a strong push, which comes with the joint business effort known as Canoe Ventures.

But here's the kicker: Cable operators are suddenly demanding quick results from Verklin. Why? With basic cable subscriber revenues falling fast, and revenue from "triple play"  packages (phone, Internet, and video) not a sure thing, cable companies are desperate to find some stable and growing revenues.

So Verklin says his board at Canoe Ventures, the joint effort by cable operators, is giving him the speed-up signal. Nice. For years, media agency research executives have been pleading with cable operators to get their act together. Quickly. All they got was -- wait, wait, wait.

While Verklin says the Holy Grail of targeting different households watching the same program with different ads is still three years away, more general geo-targeting of viewers with specific incomes, and other factors, is just around the corner.

TV advertisers will take what they can get. Verklin makes a plea: TV marketers shouldn't give up on traditional TV distribution.

But in three years there could be another video advertising environment entirely. Other digital video platforms may be moving a lot faster, perhaps with cooler behavorial targeting and engagement metrics attached.

Sure, all marketers want the better addressable advertising, especially when fractionalization of media is quickly breaking down into microscopic crumbs.

Broadcast erosion may be that long-time, boring, TV advertising topic -- but it never seems to go away.  Ask the TV networks about that this year.  Only real estate values seem to be dropping at a faster pace than ratings for network programs.

It was never hurry up and wait for local advertising cable sales. It was wait and I'm-in-no-hurry.  Now it's all about a canoe looking to strap on a heavy outboard motor.

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