There is much focus these days in the trade publications on emerging media.  It is a very broad term that often scares traditional DRTV clients.  It should not.  Much of what makes emerging media exciting overlaps well with traditional DRTV:

• Highly measurable
• Easy to target specific demographics
• Platforms that are conducive for response
• Pricing models that allow for low-cost testing

It is true that the emerging media world is very broad and rapidly changing market. In this post I would like to focus on a few of the key areas where emerging media and DRTV overlap:

• Alternate buying platforms (Google TV, Admira)
• Interactive TV (TiVo, RFI)
• Online Video

One reason these all work so well is that they are rooted in the power of utilizing video to drive response and serve as a new way for the ad to generate response.  Alternate buying platforms are the easiest emerging media tool for a DRTV company to grasp.  You are buying the same media and running the same creative, but the buying process is more intelligent due to some very exciting technology from companies like Google and Microsoft (Admira).  We have had great success using these platforms as additional tools in our media tool box.

Interactive TV allows the consumer easily respond to a call-to-action — most often via the click of a remote.  TiVo has proven a very successful tool for our clients.  Their platform is very advertising friendly- especially with the addition of show tags and pause screen tags.  We are now able to advertise on shows that typically are off limits for DRTV clients.  RFI capabilities are currently rolling out on other platforms and should be a great tool to generate cost-effective responses in 2010.

Online video has been the hot medium for the last two years.  Unfortunately, the large growth in online video consumption has not been matched in ad spending by DRTV-minded advertisers. That may change in 2010 as the number of consumers watching longer-length videos increases and the cost of online video ads comes down.  The willingness of ad networks and publishers to test CPC (cost per complete call) and even CPS (cost per sale) pricing is also increasing, which is a very good sign for the DRTV market.

This was just a very brief skim of just a few of the exciting emerging media tools our clients are using to generate immediate, measurable results.  More to come…

Matt Cote is Associate Director of Emerging Media at A. Eicoff & Co., one of North America’s largest DRTV agencies.