By Peter Henderson
Internet advertisers and marketing professionals have a message for television networks: get ready to change the way you work.
As Internet advertising grabs a bigger share of marketing budgets and ad agencies tailor spots to a new medium where attention spans can be measured in split seconds, television networks will have to adjust, executives told the Reuters Media and Advertising Summit this week.
"We believe the Web site will ultimately replace the 30-second commercial as the central expression of the brand ... The TV commercial over time will become more of a way to simply send people to your Web site," said Brian McAndrews, chief executive of Internet marketing company aQuantive Inc..
Television accounts for roughly two-thirds of major companies' advertising budgets, and that could shrink to about one-half in three years, according to David Verklin, chief executive of online media buying company Carat Americas, a unit of Aegis Group Plc.
A main driver of that change will be online advertising, he said, which should see its share of spending roughly double from about 8 percent now, as companies pay more attention to the Web's ability to tailor messages to individual consumers and to track response.
Web video advertisements will be about 10 seconds long, and mobile advertising on cell phones and other devices would be a similar length, he projected.
Verklin, like a number of executives, predicted that television would begin to look like the Internet, perhaps adding clickable Web sites in place of commercials. The element of interaction could increase the older medium's ability to reach smaller, self-selecting groups of clients, he added.
"My vision of the future has more advertisers on TV than ever before," he said.
30 SECONDS IS TOO LONGThat could be a sea change for advertisers who have embraced the video possibilities on the Web largely by running 30-second commercials made for television.
Charlie Rutman, chief executive of Havas Advertising's media buyer, MPG North America, said that failings in the standard commercial itself were also driving change. "Is the 30-second commercial considered as effective as it was five years ago? I don't think it is. That's why people have an appetite to look elsewhere," he said.
Greg Coleman, new global advertising sales chief at Yahoo Inc., agreed that the Web needs promos shorter than 30 seconds, which then might spill back into television.
"Will the networks allow for a five-second blast or a 10-second spot? It's going to be interesting to see how traditional media will bend and work with the new world," he said. "I think they are going to have to rethink how ads are placed throughout programming."
Widely agreed upon by marketing executives interviewed by Reuters is that ad creativity needs a shot in the arm, especially with the advent of new media formats.
"I think the majority of ads are just dull and mind-numbing," said David Droga, outgoing chief creative officer of the Publicis advertising network. "There is a parallel world out there which is 'ad-land.' I don't know anybody who lives in that world."
Droga, who is starting his own company, DrogaFive, with backing from Publicis, said ads need to be more creative and better suited to brands they represent.
"Anyone can be edgy, but if it is not in sync with the brand, it is just wasted money," he said.
Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.
NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at