Rev Up The Revolution

Cable can become an all-digital, interactive video search medium by ’10 if advertisers and the agencies they use buy into the opportunity, NAMIC’s multiplatform roundtable suggested Tues night. "They’ll be rudimentary forms [of search] and some expansive forms," said Time Warner Cable Media Sales pres Larry Fischer. "We’re going to challenge the markets for job listings, classified ads and Yellow Pages." User-generated content will be a big factor in the search environment "and there’s a good chance that content will be re-engineered and more engaging" to viewers, added Ember Media’s Clayton Banks. For that to happen, cable operators and programmers must shift advertiser participation from a cost-per-thousand sales metric to a quantifiable "cost-per-lead or cost-per-engagement" metric, said Weather ad sales svp Liz Janneman. – Simon Applebaum