Ad It Up

As advertisers wring their hands over digital platforms, targeted ads and audience tracking online, Oxygen pres/CEO Lisa Gersh said linear TV still works and urged a collective, uh… breath of oxygen when it comes to the online platform. "The fact that that’s measurable doesn’t make it a better platform for advertisers," she said. "I know people want to measure… but we know the viewers are engaged because they’re coming back every week." Discovery pres/CEO David Zaslav said Nielsen’s ratings system "clearly needs to evolve" to take into account new platforms and consumer behavior. But he said programmers also need to evolve their approach to advertisers, noting that Discovery’s recent PlanetGreen and iPremieres initiative stemmed directly from meetings it held with advertisers before its Upfront last month. "You can’t just go in there and preach," he said. "You have to visit them before." Meanwhile, Time Warner Cable COO Landel Hobbs said targeted advertising is "where we see tremendous opportunity." But Gersh urged cable operators to quickly adopt dynamic VOD advertising before consumers get too used to free VOD with no ads, and then rebel when ads start showing up. Said Hobbs: "We agree with you. There’s a window here. And we’ve got to get moving."