It stands to reason that broadcasters shouldn't just transplant traditional advertising models to new media. "We have a brand new way of communicating on the Web," said Steve Haman, co-founder and CEO of Reality Adz, a clearinghouse for user-generated and viral advertising. "Don't just accept the models from broadcast TV, cable TV and the newspaper industry."
One of the benefits of today's on-demand viewing model is that broadcasters have a lot more insight into their audience than they had with the push model of the past. With technology such as Terayon's CherryPicker, network operators gain important flexibility in adding interactive advertising to the distribution of digital video.
With interactivity, advertising can be served contextually and people can chose to opt-in for free or pay programming to avoid advertising. Advertisers benefit because they can now pay on a performance basis and get feedback on what messages and offers generate the most positive response.
Equally important are new ways of advertising. Just as user-generated content is a significant part of the new media landscape, user-generated ads are another byproduct of the democratization of the Internet.
"In the past, the media business required huge capital investment and distribution cost," Haman said. "Now, all you need is an Internet connection and a camera."
