GROUP SEEKS TO DEVELOP ON-DEMAND AD MODELS

BY SHIRLEY BRADY A groundbreaking cross-industry alliance hopes to shape the future of on-demand advertising. The Interactive Advertising Guideline (IAG) Project is being developed under the auspices of the Interactive Television Alliance and the Digital Media and Advertising (DiMA) Group. Its steering committee of industry executives involved in the entertainment-based advertising business is wrestling with the tricky proposition of developing on-demand advertising models. The first task is exploring how digital video recorders, video-on-demand and broadband are changing consumer behavior, says DiMA principal Tom Morgan. The group’s mission statement is to “develop a set of relevant on-demand ad formats, associated data reporting formats and reconcile key industry development and technical issues that might impair the growth of this nascent industry.” With its first meeting under its belt, the plan now is to meet roughly every six weeks; the next meeting not not been firmed up. The initiative is more broad-based than the interactive advertising subcommittee of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, in which programmers cannot participate. Participants at the first committee meeting in New York on July 8-9 included a cross-section of executives who directly sell or buy on-demand advertising — or plan to in the very near future. Network members include Turner VP of multimedia marketing Chris Pizzurro; Kevin Cohen, SVP and GM of interactive/enhanced TV for Turner Network Sales; Channing Dawson, SVP of new ventures for Scripps Networks; Manish Jha, SVP and GM of emerging media and data services for ESPN; David Kline, president and COO for advertising sales at Rainbow Media; Rick Mandler, VP and GM of the Walt Disney Internet Group and ABC’s Enhanced TV; and Dina Roman, VP and general sales manager for interactive advertising sales and sponsorships at Discovery Networks. MSO executives include Warren Schlichting, VP of business development, and Paul Woidke, VP of technology ad sales, at Comcast; Larry Fischer, president of ad sales at Time Warner Cable; Debby Mullin, VP of new media advertising for Cox Media; DirecTV SVP of advanced products and new media Brad Beale; and Michael McKenna, interactive TV sales manager for EchoStar’s Dish Network. Agency members include Tim Hanlon, VP and director of emerging contacts for Starcom Mediavest Group, and Universal McCann creative director Alan Schulman. Advertisers taking part include Kraft Foods, DaimlerChrylser, Best Buy, Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. Nielsen Media Research, which is hoped to join the IAG initiative, is also developing a measurement system for on-demand ratings. Scott Brown, its SVP of strategic relationships, marketing and technology, discussed those plans with CTAM’s On Demand Consortium at last month’s NCTA show.