While video on demand could one day become a killer app for TV viewing -- watch what you want, when -- networks have struggled to attract advertisers and monetize the platform. A potential savior: the Ad Selector. The model, where a viewer can choose between three ads before watching an online video, seems tailor made for a VOD stream. In an interview before she sat on an OMMA Video panel, Publicis Groupe video guru Tracey Scheppach advanced the posisbility that VOD could be a natural venue to bring Ad Selector to TV. Of course, that may not …

While deals for CNN and Cartoon Network are still to be finished, Turner says it has put a bow on its upfront business for TBS, TNT and TruTV. Notably, TBS sold Conan O'Brien's new show. CPMs were expected to have risen in the 9% range, the same commanded by the leading broadcast networks. David Levy, who oversees sales for all of Turner, said in a statement: ‬ “We are appreciative that our advertising partners continue to trust and support our three distinct, branded entertainment networks."

At OMMA Video, Brett Wilson of TubeMogul is intro-ing a discussion about Facebook becoming a power in online video. Wilson says Facebook did it “without even trying.” Hardly surprising since much of Facebook’s runaway success seems to have come its way with little effort. Wilson offers evidence that video ads within Facebook work more effectively than elsewhere on the Web -- notably within games such as FarmVille. Among the ways advertisers overall can take advantage of video on Facebook that Wilson listed are: 1) Upload a video to a profile page or link to it. 2) …

"You can't buy publicity like this," says Irene Rosenfeld, chairman/CEO at Kraft Foods, during Nielsen's Consumer 360 annual conference. In the fall, Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert of "The Colbert Report" made fun of the all-so-hip campaign from Kraft Foods' Miracle Whip campaign. It produced a spoof campaign called "Don't Be So Mayo", an faux hip commercial featuring young skewing college guys and girls, for example, dancing, and eating mayo – straight with no bread, hanging upside down. Then Kraft wrote a letter back to Colbert -- to counter the spoof -- it would buy up all commercials on …

Media buyers say finding safe places to run video ads against is less of a concern today with the influx of professional video onto the Web on properties like Hulu. Havas Digital's Adam Kasper said finding the right context and audience for online video advertising has become a bigger focus in the last few years as more high-quality content appears hits the Web. Starcom's Jonathan Hsia, agreed, noting clients are very comfortable placing ads on Hulu, even though the audience targeting isn't as refined as on other online buys. The safe environment and reach makes it worthwhile. Hsia also …

Satellite TV operator DirecTV and cable TV ad rep firm NCC Media just announced a deal that will provide "one-stop access to locally place ads on a wide selection of networks" received by DirecTV's subscribers. The companies claim that the deal is the first to bring DirecTV's inventory to the spot advertising market, and offering marketers the ability to serve addressable ads. The ads, stored within DVR enabled set-top boxes, will be inserted into local breaks across multiple cable networks. The companies said the system is being tested now, and will be "operational" in the second half of 2011.

Too many brands and not enough focus on the consumer. That's why Nielsen Company either streamlined or sold off a $1 billion dollars worth of business – including many business trade magazines, this according to David Calhoun, chief executive officer for The Nielsen Company. For the Nielsen annual conference, social media and other efforts need analyzed in better ways. "Everything has to start with a holistic consumer," says Calhoun. But there was a warning. "I don't want anyone to think we have cracked the code."

According to Havas Digital's Adam Kasper, it's because there isn't any "scarcity" of inventory in the online marketplace, and because online prices are much more "dynamic" and harder to predict online than on television. "There's certain pockets of inventory that clients need," Kasper said during the media buyers' "Reality Check" panel at OMMA Video this morning. "A financial client might need the ownership button on Yahoo Finance," he said, for example. "So there are areas where certain advertisers should be buying upfront, but in terms of overall impressions, there is not a lack of scarcity in the marketplace." …

In an important sign of support from Madison Avenue, Arbitron just announced that WPP's GroupM unit has signed a multi-year contract for Arbitron's portable people meter and diary radio ratings services across all the markets they measure. "Our clients need high quality measurement tools to guide their media buying strategies and help track the return on their investments," Lyle Schwartz, managing partner-director of implementation research & marketplace analysis at GroupM stated.

Interpublic's Initiative unit has named former Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau PR guy Chris Jones as is vice president-director of communications, filling the job that Tom Siebert left some time ago. Jones, who reports to Initiative North America President Tim Spengler, was recently was a consultant for Hispanic TV network Univision. Siebert, by the way, is now communications chief at HUGE, the hot digital shop in Brooklyn that is partly owned by Interpublic.