TV and Web Convergence

It might be that I’m one of The Chosen People. Or perhaps it's my years in the investment industry. Whatever the reason, there is no acronym that makes my heart flutter quite like ROI. In my previous career as an equities analyst, return on investment was at the crux of all my investigative efforts. And in my personal life as well, it’s never far away. Whether it's forecasting how many espressos that new coffee shop must sell to break-even or calculating how many tomatoes I must cut to justify purchasing a pricy new knife sharpener, ROI is always on my mind. Read more…

A couple of years back, media mavens recognized that the time-honoured measure of “eyeballs on the tube” was a dying quail. The smart money migrated to measuring actual advertising efficiency; in a sea-change, CBS has put another nail in Mad Men-era measurement practice by disposing of that old warhorse, the demographic.

Cohorts and cadres mean almost nothing in the age of tribal allegiances and the utter fragmentation of any audience across media verticals. So why make the case it’s time for demographics swansong now? Read more…

YouTube is reportedly planning to spend $100 million to launch 20 different channels, and support the creation and distribution of original, TV-like programming for them, in a bid to provide a legitimate alternative to broadcast TV. Their goal is to get TV viewers to switch over and watch YouTube in the future like they do TV now. For viewers, this may be a welcome opportunity to end their love/hate relationship with cable distributors. A cheap and cheerful new way to begin love affairs with serial, scripted shows. Read more…

Well, looks like the universe is catching up with us here at Fresh Baked. In today's New York Times, right there on page B1, there's the low-down: rising broadband capacity and convergence—the public's willingness to play on any digital screen, not just TV—have conspired to create two tipping points. Read more…

Marketing is all about relationships.

And in this current economy, boyoboy, do we ever have a lotta marketing relationships on the rocks. While some strong and proven marketing marriages are as strong as ever, after a scan of the trades, sure feels to me like there were a slew of dysfunctional marriages out there in marketingland, with all too few therapeutic moments.

And now, with the economy in retrograde, as the astrologers say, we’re learning some very hard lessons indeed about marketing value and ROI…and the future of every advertising model under the sun. Read more…