IT’S BEEN IN THE MARKET for less than a month, but TV network executives are excited about advertising opportunities presented by MediaFLO USA Inc.’s mobile broadcast TV network.
Each of the television networks running on the eight-channel lineup make use of their
commercial breaks in different ways. NBC isn’t running any commercials; instead it’s re-packaging and time-shifting previously aired content. CBS is mostly running commercials you’d see on traditional TV, mixed with some commercials from its online outlets. And MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon are already running some ads that live exclusively on the mobile platform while it fills other slots with plugs for their own programming.
“We believe that the mobile platform is incredibly valuable for advertising,” said Greg Clayman, senior vice president of mobile media at MTV Networks. “We don’t want to leave any of that value on the table.”
With his division already experimenting with made-for-mobile ads, Clayman said he anticipates the desire for more ads to grow as the platform gains traction among consumers. “We believe that having ads specifically for MediaFLO is important,” he said. “We want to work with advertisers in a deep way that is unique to the platform.”
Salil Dalvi, general manager of wireless platforms at NBC Universal, said advertising was a big attraction to the new platform. With the linear format, Dalvi said his network will be experimenting with 30-second spots, longer-form ads and pursue more sponsored short-form content.
Time shifting ‘commercial pods’
With 61 minutes of commercial time available during each broadcast of the “Today Show,” NBC is filling its “commercial pods” with other segments of the show. “We take earlier interviews of the show and time shift them and put them in that break,” Dalvi said.
“This is a great opportunity for us to learn what resonates with advertisers,” he said. “At the end of it, what we don’t want to do is give away commercial time. We’re not in the business of giving away time.” Dalvi added that the network expects to have “full commercial insertion capability by early to mid summer.”
CBS Mobile is mixing its commercial breaks with ads you’d regularly view at home with commercials advertisers have paid to be placed in online platforms, said Cyriac Roeding, executive VP of CBS Mobile.
“The ultimate goal is to be as flexible as possible and cater to our customers and our advertisers needs,” Roeding said. “We think this is a very substantial new opportunity. It’s really the first foray into mobile advertising for large brands.”
CBS plans to recommend ad strategies to its clients and tailor each advertiser’s message for each of CBS’ platforms, he said.
Each of the executives declined to discuss how ad revenues might be split between their network, MediaFLO and partner carriers, but did hint that it’s logical to consider the involvement of each party in the process.
Need for numbers
Meanwhile, each of them said the metrics and data from viewership is a glaring missing piece of the puzzle. TV networks are competitive by nature and without having numbers that indicate where each of them rank among the eight channels in the lineup, they will be hard pressed compete for greater positioning; all of which makes selling commercial time on the platform a difficult endeavor.
“We need data. Every major mass media has some sort of agreed upon measurement for it,” MTV’s Clayman said. “There’s no Nielsen equivalent for mobile. It’s something that is very much on our radar.”
