Addressable television technology is a very real part of the advertising ecosystem, and Visible World’s work to enable it tru2way compatibility is a perfect example. Earlier this month we announced how we’re making it even easier for operators to deploy addressable technology and that highlighted our commitment to deliver ways for our cable partners to enhance their advertising capabilities. 

Visible World announced the release of a tru2way compliant addressable advertising solution that makes it easier for cable operators to deploy addressable advertising in their systems. That advancement was a powerful combination of tru2way’s scale and Visible World’s addressable advertising system. We’re enabling marketers to target their television commercials to relevant audiences based on customized demographic segmentation data. The advancement further showcases how cable operators can now easily meet the growing demand for marketing their own targeted messages, services and products across the platform.

Major US cable operators are deploying tru2way-enabled devices across their footprint, creating a national standardized middleware platform for interactivity and advertising applications. Visible World’s technology easily integrates into these devices, allowing it to be deployed across a rapidly growing number of subscribers.

Our work with tru2way is an amazing step forward in bringing addressable television technology to cable operators, marketers, and advertising agencies. With each advancement, we’re delivering new ways for them to apply highly accurate audience and demographic data to television advertising campaigns. Advertisers can use general demographic data, industry specific data, or their own proprietary data, and use it to deliver different messages to different sets of households. The system works for television ads that are viewed live as well as those that are viewed during broadcast replayed through a Digital Video Recorder (DVR).

Adding tru2way-support is a key step in the on-going process of scaling the addressable advertising footprint to more devices and to a larger audience. Visible World can now provide an addressable advertising solution on a range of middleware solutions across a range of television devices. Those range from basic digital TV receivers to advanced set top boxes with DVR capabilities and include Home Gateways running tru2way middleware.

Tru2way technology provides a powerful platform for new television devices, enabling new user interfaces, new device architectures, and also new capabilities for interactivity and advanced advertising. And as we continue to take advantage of this platform, we also continue to position television as the best medium to not only reach millions of homes, but to interact with the most appropriate audiences.

As marketing, media or advertising professionals, we all suffer from PBS. I’m not referring to the ongoing debate on funding of the Public Broadcast Service.  Rather, the affliction that needs your attention is your own Personal Bias Syndrome (PBS). This condition can be attributed to the way, in the course of hectic day-to-day professional and personal lives, we all tend to assume that the way we enjoy media and embrace new technologies is pretty much the same way everyone else is doing it too. Let me share a few prevalent examples that illustrate how our PBS is out of sync with what is actually happening. You might personally recognize some of these symptoms...

DVR Rules!  – Because we tend to think of ourselves as heavy users of DVRs and watch plenty of time-shifted content, we assume that this is quickly becoming the norm. As incredible as it may seem to us, less than half of TV households have a DVR. Consequently total time-shifted viewing across all TV households remains less than 7% of all time spent watching TV. Beyond that, it is important to note that the rise in watching time-shifted TV content is being driven by greater penetration of DVRs and not by the average amount of time individuals watch time-shifted content. According to Nielsen research, among households that have had DVRs for at least one year, the time individuals devoted to watching time-shifted content has held steady around 26 hours per month which amounts to less than 20% of their total TV consumption. 

Internet Rules!  – There is a persistent banter in the business and trade press that focuses on the rise in online video options that are available to us. As an avid fan of Netflix and TED, I realize that there is a growing amount of online video content that is attracting greater attention.  But just how much time is broader America spending with these online video alternatives? Not much is the answer when compared to traditional TV consumption. Online video viewing amounts to less than 2% of the total time watching traditional TV. Sure it is growing, and rapidly because this growth is coming on top of a very small base. And to further emphasize this point, according to Nielsen’s latest “Three Screen Report”, in terms of total minutes of year over year growth, traditional TV viewing actually grew more than online video viewing.

Youth Rules!  – As a whole, the marketing, media and advertising industry tends to skew relatively young, and as such, we tend to empathize and even worship youth culture. So it is no surprise that we often hear that the differences between traditional TV and online or mobile video consumption are generational. However, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average 8-18 year old spends nearly 3.5 hours a day watching TV versus 1.5 hours on the Internet, and while the time they spent on the Internet grew, the growth in amount of time spent watching TV was even greater. Recent ComScore research revealed that the average 18-24 year old spent 32 hours per month on the Internet on 2010, but as it turns out 32 hours was also the average across all age groups. It is noteworthy that the research found that the heaviest users of the Internet are persons ages 45-54 with an average of 39 hours online each month.

It turns out that when we look outside of our own Personal Bias Syndrome, and actually examine research data that provides us with a broader perspective, we realize that our own media consumption and technology adoption behaviors do not reflect what is happening in broader America—not even among young Americans. Sure there are emerging behaviors that are important to keep an eye out for as these may be leading indicators. However, we must also keep in mind that the actions of early adopters rarely reflect the future behaviors of the majority of the population, both in terms of degree of adoption or magnitude of usage. Why is this important? Well, as marketing, media or advertising professionals we are supposed to be in tune with our target consumers. So, we must work at keeping our PBS in check.

Television remains the most powerful, far reaching medium for engaging and connecting with an audience. Why then am I blogging, a decidedly online, un-TV activity? 

One thing we’re going to get across in this new forum is that the Visible World team has steadily been a part of changing the TV advertising ecosystem. One of the things we’ve learned, and that we’ll explore here, is that no medium stands alone, whether it’s online, mobile or TV. 

What we’re doing with Visible World is the same as what we’re doing with this blog: making content that is more engaging, more accessible and more relevant. We’ll be sharing some of our ideas, successes and forecasts as the TV industry ushers through a fascinating evolution from a one-size-fits-all tool to a way to engage users on a relevant, personalized basis.

And one thing we’ve learned is that we don’t do it alone – the advertising and technology worlds are an ecosystem, so we invite you to connect with us here. Let us know your thoughts on our posts, and of course if you’d like to write a guest article to share a point (or even a counter-point) we’re open to that. 

This blog is about growth. Elias Canetti, in his book "Crowds and Power," describes growth as one of the four fundamental aspects of a crowd: "As soon as it exists at all, it wants to consist of more people: the urge to grow is the first and supreme attribute of the crowd. It wants to seize everyone within reach..."

We’re growing here, pushing the boundaries of what only five years ago seemed an impossible dream. Ten years ago, science fiction. Whether we use this forum to share, compare, boast, or join and spark conversations, or whether the ideas are obscure, or widely popular, we hope to hear from you. The audience is often as important as the content.

This blog is going to be a forum where the Visible World team explore the ideas of expanding what is possible from TV advertising.

We look forward to hearing from you,

Seth