television | Internet Marketing Blog

What will TV look like in 2031?

The year is 2031. Flying cars have just hit the open market, the New York Mets are on the verge of winning their first World Series in forty-five years, and television as we know it has ceased to exist.

Let’s first imagine that a super smart group of MIT engineers solved all the technical troubles we’d encounter in switching from a broadcast to a unicast model.

The public’s consumption habits now overwhelmingly favor an on-demand format, and each household is equipped with a SmarTV capable of streaming content instantaneously from anywhere on the web.

Traditional channels have fallen in the face of more agile competition from platforms like Netflix and Hulu, or they’ve adapted to HBO Go-esque versions of their former selves.

by Phil Osgood 08 May 2013 14:18pm 3 comments

Coming soon: paid YouTube channels?

When Google purchased YouTube for $1.65bn in late 2006, some wondered whether the acquisition would be the Web 2.0 equivalent of Yahoo's ill-fated billion-dollar purchase of Broadcast.com during the first .com boom.

It was hard not to be somewhat skeptical: YouTube was an expensive operation to run and was facing the same type of legal assault from Hollywood that basically killed Napster 1.0 years earlier.

by Patricio Robles 26 February 2013 16:38pm 1 comment

Nielsen to recognize that TV viewing doesn't always involve a TV: report

As homes and offices fill with more and more internet-connected devices, consumers are increasingly consuming content on multiple screens.

Content creators and distributors know this. Advertisers know this. Analysts know this. Entrepreneurs and startups know this.

by Patricio Robles 21 February 2013 20:36pm 0 comments

The mobile train has left the station: Are you on board?

There are a few times when we realize that a certain technology is going to change everything about our lives: the first time we used a cell phone, received an email, searched the Internet or downloaded a song. This past Black Friday was the day we realized that mobile shopping would have just that sort of impact.

On Black Friday 2012, one out of every four dollars spent online at retail websites came from a mobile device. This amounts to more than $300 million dollars in one day alone. For those retailers who’ve already embraced mobile, it was a day of celebration, a culmination of their hard work and foresight. For retailers who didn’t get their share of this new mobile world, it’s a wake-up call: Get with the mobile program, or have consumers leave you behind.

by Tamara Gaffney 13 December 2012 14:13pm 6 comments

Technology is not a panacea for agencies

It's a seemingly great time to be a brand. Our digital world has created numerous challenges in reaching consumers, but thanks to digital channels like social and mobile, there are arguably more opportunities than ever to create connections.

For agencies, whether the digital revolution is a boon isn't always so clear. Yes, agency services are in great demand as a result, but the complexity of digital advertising is creating some significant pain.

by Patricio Robles 16 October 2012 18:33pm 5 comments

Advertising and the perils of too much testing

Numbers don't lie, or so we're told, and it's no surprise that as advertisers gain more and more tools, they are increasingly looking to see if their assumptions are backed up by the numbers.

This is particularly true when it comes to the $130bn/year television ad market, where advertisers frequently do significant amounts of market testing before rolling a campaign out at scale.

by Patricio Robles 15 October 2012 14:57pm 1 comment

Moviegoers increasingly influenced by mobile: report

Hollywood may not have a reputation for embracing new channels, but it's increasingly clear that new channels have the ability to help Hollywood's biggest companies succeed as consumers use technology to interact with content in new ways.

This is especially evident in the world of social media. It's increasingly evident that social channels can impact the small screen, and even though television and cable networks may not fully understand what this means yet, many of them are experimenting and investing in social because they see the potential to benefit.

by Patricio Robles 03 October 2012 14:13pm 1 comment

Consumers don't trust paid media: report

Brands are increasingly paying for 'Likes', followers and reviews, and despite the risks associated with this activity and the questionable efficacy of the tactic, there may be a logical reason for it.

That reason: according to Nielsen, consumers trust earned media, such as recommendations from friends and online reviews, far more than they do paid media.

by Patricio Robles 19 September 2012 17:32pm 2 comments

HBO makes friends with cord cutters...in Scandinavia

For consumers in the United States wanting to give HBO their money for a subscription that doesn't require a cable bundle, the popular cable network delivered bad news earlier this year: thanks, but no thanks.

But HBO's response to the grassroots Take My Money, HBO! campaign didn't answer the question: can HBO ignore cord cutters forever?

by Patricio Robles 04 September 2012 15:17pm 1 comment

AT&T AdWorks to bring TV, mobile data to online ad targeting

Targeting technologies have become more sophisticated over the years, but reaching the right consumers at the right time is still a major focus for advertisers and ad networks.

AT&T's ad network, AdWorks, which the company claims reaches some 181m unique users per month, is planning to roll out a new approach to this long-standing challenge in September.

by Patricio Robles 27 August 2012 18:41pm 1 comment