TV Ad Biz Will Get Googled

Many moons ago I thought up a crazy idea to turn the advertising business on its head… Let viewers pay money to NOT see an ad.

Certainly this was not novel, in that there are instances where I pay (or pay more) for content in order to not have ads. Think "video on demand", or even HBO, where I get a show or movie commercial-free, rather than watching the same thing on TNT, where it’s chock full of spots hawking pills for perfect picnics with my best friend or being cool in school because I drink the right fruit punch. In this model, I’m paying a carrier or distributor to see the content, so they don’t seek ad revenue.

Of course it doesn’t always work that way… I pay to see the content in movie theaters but then they show me 20 minutes of pre-roll ads. I’m not talking about the movie trailers here (coming attractions)… I like those BECAUSE THEY ARE RELEVANT ADS.

In that tired, old model, an advertiser pays 50 cents (or whatever) to reach me (in the CPM they pay), but they don't know if I'm actually going to pay attention to the ad. They know there’s a high likelihood they're wasting their money on me. But what if I paid them 2 cents to leave me alone? If there are 25 of me, they make 50 cents instead of paying 50 cents. It’d be like I'm watching "free TV" (ABC or TNT or...) and a spot comes on, then I can actually pay the advertiser to stop marketing that product to me? Although I’m watching “free TV”, over the course of a month, I might pay the equivalent of an HBO subscription fee, but I’m paying it in micro-payments. (Micro-payments are already taking off in gaming, where you don’t sell the game for $60, you sell more of them for less and sell tiny upgrades—weapons or bonnets for my warlord or Barbie.) My whole motivation for paying to “opt out” is not because I don't want ads... I just don't want ads that aren't relevant.

Now I couldn’t quite make that work. (Or, better said, I didn’t try to make it work--even during the web 1.0 gold rush.) But here’s what will work… Google TV Ads.

In the next 18 months, you will see Google TV broker spots based on how well the ad performs, not just on on which advertiser will pay more for any given inventory. Just like with the AdWords program, the audience will in part determine which ads are most relevant. And, advertisers that score higher relevance (based on “click thru” or if viewers don’t skip the commercial), will pay less to run their spot. Conversely, advertisers that continue the practice of “interruption marketing” will pay more for their spots.

The TV biz rakes in $64.4 billiion in ad revenue. You will see Google take a big chunk of that over time. And, as a consumer, you will also get more relevant ads. Stay tuned…

jar jar voted off idol this week?

Colleagues and friends have encouraged me for years to blog, as I'm told I occasionally have keen observations or perspectives helpful to others in the many words I waste each day.

Sometimes it's characterized as fresh, but most of the time it's probably random. Either way, apparently I'm one of those that "think different", as big agency TBWA\ChiatDay once coined for Apple. (I realize It should be "think differently", by the way. And, yes, I am using a Mac to type this, although I'm not a major Microsoft basher.) See, told you I waste words.

Anyway... I'll try to use this space to share various thoughts or things I come across that you might find useful or interesting, although I'm sure many an entry will be useless and uninteresting. This grande premiere entry will probably fall in that category. So, here goes....

"Jason Castro of American Idol, George Lucas called and wants Jar Jar back."




Separated at birth?



Jason, please forgive me!