But I didn't include the link to the rest of the article. Here it is:
Well, maybe that's Google's plan. Or maybe Google has something simpler in mind: to figure out how to deliver a "targeted advertising experience" to small cable systems, rather than trying to customize advertising for individual households. For many small cable systems,
*any* local TV advertising would be a new experience.As I noted in a previous post on this subject, many small cable TV systems don't use the advertising slots ("avails") in non-broadcast advertising-supported programming networks. The cost of doing so exceeds the potential revenue.
If a cable system doesn't use the avails, the network's spots (typically those instant-response "call-this-800-number-right-now" ads) pass through by default. Whatever revenue these spots generate goes to the network, not the local cable system.
Google can change this, and it looks to me like they might be gearing up to do it.
Exactly how they're doing it is unknown, but I imagine it would use a web-based interface. In its simplest implementation, Google would maintain a database containing:
- The channel lineup of every participating cable system.
- The avail schedule of every ad-supported non-broadcast network.
- Some means of activating ad insertion at the cable company's headend. (This might require new headend equipment, but I'm sure Google could take care of that.)
With this implementation, the cable operator could schedule any ad spot into any avail simply by logging in to a secure website.
Taking things one step further, the ad agencies -- or even advertisers themselves -- could schedule ads without the cable company having to do anything. If two or more advertisers want the same avail, an automatic auction would ensue. The cable company might not even know about it (although, of course, it could check the schedule on that secure website). Google would collect the revenue and send the cable company a monthly check.
In my view, the real significance of such a scheduling system lies in the opportunities it creates in small communities -- places with populations in the 5,000-10,000 range. Such communities are large enough to have a local commercial infrastructure (car dealership; furniture store; lumber yard; weekly newspaper; Wal-mart; possibly a community college), but they don?t have a local television broadcast station. Independence, Kansas comes to mind: population around 10,000, with about 4000 households.
Businesses in these communities are prime candidates for advertising on cable. But if the local cable company doesn't offer ad insertion into non-broadcast networks, their only options are those text-and-static-image channels.
If Google's plan works as I think it will, insertion costs will fall dramatically, making it possible for small cable companies to participate.
Of course, the ads themselves would have to be created before they could be inserted. I think this problem will take care of itself: if insertion costs drop significantly, the advertisers themselves will fund the production costs.
Local advertisers (the furniture store, the lumber yard) can contract with a local production house. (And if a local production house doesn't exist, somebody will certainly start one.)
National advertisers that support their local dealers through cooperative advertising programs will be able to extend these programs to local cable. To illustrate what I mean, here's a hypothetical example -- a Chevrolet spot:
- When this spot runs on a broadcast station covering a large area, it says "see it at your local Chevrolet dealer today."
- When this spot runs on Cable One in Independence, it says "see it at Romans Motor Company, on West Main Street right here in Independence."
Maybe that's not the "targeted advertising experience" that Greg Ireland imagines, but it's a lot simper and cheaper to implement.
Neal McLain
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is exactly how it is done here. It is done that way for the Toyota dealer in town and the Chevvy dealer. Except it does not include the phrase 'right here'; it says Romans Motor Company, (street number) West Main, Independence, Phone (number). PAT]