By STUART ELLOTT
THE expression "think outside the box" has been overused enough to
become jargon. But for a few hours yesterday it was appropriate, as
local television stations were urged to diversify beyond their boxes,
i.e., TV sets, to remain relevant -- and profitable -- in the new
digital age.
"Conventional wisdom, it's an enemy at a time like this," said Beth
Comstock, president for digital media and market development at NBC
Universal, part of General Electric. "In media today, I don't think
there is a single rule that can't -- and frankly, probably shouldn't
-- be broken.
"This isn't just about driving growth," she added. "It's about staying
in business."
Her call to action came at the annual marketing conference sponsored
by the Television Bureau of Advertising, an organization that promotes
broadcast TV as a medium. For the fifth year in a row, the conference
was held during the New York International Auto Show at the Jacob
K. Javits Convention Center, reflecting the status of automakers atop
the list of America's largest marketers.
For the first time, the conference was devoted to a single topic: the
importance of the "multiplatform" -- that is, offering content and
advertising not only on local broadcast stations but also online, on
cellphones and other wireless devices, through video on demand and on
video iPods.
The sole topic was intended to underscore that "advertisers and their
agencies are increasingly asking for -- make that demanding -- a
multiplatform strategy from all their media partners," said
Christopher Rohrs, president of the bureau, in a speech he gave to
almost 1,200 attendees to begin the conference.
To address that, Mr. Rohrs said, the bureau has selected a dozen
members to serve on a committee devoted to multiple-media platforms,
which plans to hold its first meeting today. The committee members
include executives from ABC, CBS, Gannett Broadcasting, Meredith
Broadcasting, NBC, the New York Times Company Broadcast Media Group
and Pappas Telecasting.
There are two principal reasons that TV stations are seeking to
broaden their horizons. One is "consumers will increasingly choose
what they want to see, when they want to see it, on whatever device
they want to see it," said Alan Frank, president and chief executive
at the Post-Newsweek Stations division of the Washington Post Company.
The other reason was offered by David Rehr, president and chief
executive at the National Association of Broadcasters: "Every new
stream of programming is potentially a new source of revenue. Most
distribution channels will create more value for our content."
Those prospects were the subject of a panel discussion led by Gordon
Borrell, president and chief executive at Borrell Associates, a
consulting company specializing in the local online advertising
market.
Mr. Borrell discussed a new report from his company showing that local
television stations more than doubled their Internet ad revenue last
year compared with 2004, to $283 million from $119 million. And, he
predicted, the figure would climb to $410 million by the end of 2006.
But ad revenue last year for Web sites operated by local newspapers
totaled $2 billion, according to the report, or more than nine times
what the Web sites of the local TV stations took in.
Local television "has the power to significantly drive traffic to the
Internet" by cross-promoting with the contents of station broadcasts,
Mr. Borrell said, "yet it hasn't in many cases."
"You have a tremendous opportunity in front of you," he added. "All
media are in flux, and flux is a great time to institute change."
As an example, Mr. Borrell cited the Web site operated by WRAL-TV, the
CBS affiliate in Raleigh, N.C., that is owned by the Capitol
Broadcasting Company. The ad revenue for the site (www.wral.com)
exceeds the ad revenue for www.newsobserver.com, the Web site operated
by the leading local newspaper, The News and Observer, published by
the McClatchy Company.
When it comes to capitalizing on additional methods of delivering
content and ads, Mr. Borrell said, "we are where television was in the
late 1950's."
That outlook was echoed by the announcement yesterday of the final
figures for Internet ad revenue last year, released by the Interactive
Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The results set a
record at $12.5 billion, up 30.2 percent from $9.6 billion in 2004.
"We must be like Google, in a constant beta state," said Christine
M. Di Stadio, senior vice president for marketing and new media at the
New York Times Broadcast Media Group. Her reference was to the myriad
test products and services offered on the Google Web site.
Local stations ought to offer opportunities for social networking on
their Web sites, Ms. Di Stadio suggested, to compete with popular
services like MySpace; streaming video, to compete with Web sites like
YouTube; and mobile marketing.
As an example, Ms. Di Stadio described a "mobile physician finder" she
is developing, listing doctors and their telephone numbers. Cellphone
users will be able to "click on the phone number and dial, using
click-to-call technology," she said.
"Guys, we needed all these screens to come along to make us exciting
and vibrant again," Ms. Di Stadio said, laughing.
Brian Wheelis, vice president and group media director on the giant
AT&T account at GSD&M in Austin, Tex., part of the Omnicom Group,
cautioned the attendees against worrying that they will be competing
against themselves.
"If you think about the Web as cannibalizing, you've already given up
and you're not ready for it," Mr. Wheelis said. He praised the Web
site of KXAN, the NBC affiliate in Austin, owned by LIN TV, which
offers blogs, podcasts, streaming video and other new media at
www.kxan.com.
Another member of Mr. Borrell's panel, David Buonfiglio, advised local
TV stations to take part in the nascent trend known as user-generated
or consumer-created content, which is meant to build emotional
connections between customers and brands.
Mr. Buonfiglio, vice president for local sales at Internet
Broadcasting Systems, cited a contest sponsored by the Web site of
WPTZ, an NBC affiliate owned by Hearst-Argyle Television that
broadcasts to Burlington, Vt., and Plattsburgh, N.Y. The contest on
the site (www.thechamplainchannel.com) "invited viewers to write the
next commercial" for a local car dealer, Mr. Buonfiglio said, and
drew twice as many entries as had been forecast.
Mr. Buonfiglio also offered some advice in a humorous vein. "You
really should go out and tell agencies what you can do," he said. "Get
a capabilities presentation. If you don't have capabilities, get some
of them first."
Correction: April 25, 2006
The Advertising column in Business Day on Friday, about efforts by
local television stations to expand into new media like the Internet,
omitted the source of a comparison of advertising revenue for
wral.com, the Web site of staton WRAL in Raleigh, N.C., and the Web
site for The News & Observer. The information came from the trade
publication Mediaweek -- not from Gordon Borrell, who spoke at the
conference about the traffic for the two sites but not about their
revenue.
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
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