2008 Year in Review: Targeted advertising nears prime time

Way back in early 2007, a survey by Accenture and the Economist Intelligence Unit found that more than 46 percent of IPTV executives worldwide felt that targeted advertising could be a major source of IPTV revenue within the following year. That didn't happen by early 2008, and it still hasn't happened at the end of 2008-though, depending on your definition of "targeted advertising," you may feel differently. The general concept of targeted advertising has in fact traveled a long road in almost two years since that survey, a bumpy one with a few sharp curves. Many broadband service providers have delayed or put off tests of targeted ad technology, due to the controversy the somewhat intrusive technology generated.

However, many people in the TV sector feel that telco TV players may have a chance to roll out targeted advertising in a much more consumer-friendly way. In 2008, the ad insertion solutions that telcos will need to advance their ad capabilities toward the targeted advertising model came a long way. The survey respondents back in early 2007 were right about one thing: Targeted advertising can be a major source of revenue. We're not there yet, but a little bit closer.

Related articles
Ad insertion technology has been in the spotlight this year [1]
Targeted advertising seemed to be on the verge in 2007 [2]
Alcatel-Lucent targeted targeted advertising this year [3]
Microsoft had ads in mind for Mediaroom [4]