The presenter's tie, please!
The Internet advertising industry is already ready for the fusion of TV and Internet
The Internet advertising industry is already prepared for the fusion of TV and the InternetBy Clemens Hörler When the Internet and television merge, completely new opportunities open up for online advertisers. The advertising industry is not short of ideas here - what is missing is the necessary broadband connections to the Internet.
Internet advertising today consists largely of banners, buttons and e-mails. But the convergence of TV and the Internet already has the advertising industry dreaming of the fusion of content, advertising and e-commerce.
The Internet advertising company Adtech GmbH, Neu-Isenburg, and IntelliVisionTV AG, Munich, want to make this dream come true and presented a solution for interactive marketing: AdFusion is designed to turn streamed content into an advertising medium at the same time, explains Dirk Freytag, press spokesman for Adtech.
Book a vacation at the click of a mouse while watching TV
And this is how it is supposed to work: People or objects are marked. For example, if a user is interested in the news anchor's tie, he or she clicks on it and is connected directly to an online store.
If the viewer is inspired by a Caribbean port of call in the cruise soap, he or she can go straight to a travel agent to find out about the corresponding vacation offers. An advertising banner above the program window draws attention to the various information and ordering options.
"The interest in this from the advertising industry and content providers is huge," Freytag enthuses.
Still little legal
Restrictions
However, the low density of broadband connections to the Internet is an obstacle to rapid use of the new forms of advertising. According to Freytag's estimates, the new forms of advertising cannot be deployed on a broad basis before the end of the year.
It remains to be seen whether the merging of content and advertising will be legally curbed in the future, as is the case with radio and television. In Switzerland, the Internet does not fall within the scope of the Radio and Television Act (RTVA).
According to Alfred Hostettler of Bakom's Radio and Television Division, there is no reason yet to apply the RTVA to Internet TV: "With its so far small mass impact and low transmission quality, it does not yet fall within the scope of the RTVA." This could soon change thanks to broadband offensives by Swisscom and Cablecom.
Without merging content and advertising, Europe Online Networks S.A., Luxembourg, is already taking advantage of the Internet for interactive advertising: The operator of a satellite-based and terrestrial broadband Internet network offers advertisers the opportunity to run spots during which viewers can click a mouse to request more detailed information about the advertised product.
In the future, Europe Online, which streams programs from CNBC and Eurosport, among others, wants to develop solutions for online advertising in broadband Internet networks together with the Internet marketer AdLink Internet Medien AG, Montabaur. Europe Online currently serves around 55,000 customers throughout Europe.
Interactive advertising becomes
still little used
In Switzerland, advertising spots on the Internet are usually seen only in very simple forms. The possibilities for targeting and interactivity are only little used by advertisers. TV stations that broadcast their full program live on the Internet show the same commercials as on TV, although the Internet - especially with larger audiences - would also offer the opportunity to address different target groups with different commercials.
Even on the websites of the companies that make their commercials available online, one hardly finds any Internet-specific applications or further developments. "Internet-specific" is still mostly synonymous with: small and blurry.
Internet advertising today consists largely of banners, buttons and e-mails. But the convergence of TV and the Internet already has the advertising industry dreaming of the fusion of content, advertising and e-commerce.
The Internet advertising company Adtech GmbH, Neu-Isenburg, and IntelliVisionTV AG, Munich, want to make this dream come true and presented a solution for interactive marketing: AdFusion is designed to turn streamed content into an advertising medium at the same time, explains Dirk Freytag, press spokesman for Adtech.
Book a vacation at the click of a mouse while watching TV
And this is how it is supposed to work: People or objects are marked. For example, if a user is interested in the news anchor's tie, he or she clicks on it and is connected directly to an online store.
If the viewer is inspired by a Caribbean port of call in the cruise soap, he or she can go straight to a travel agent to find out about the corresponding vacation offers. An advertising banner above the program window draws attention to the various information and ordering options.
"The interest in this from the advertising industry and content providers is huge," Freytag enthuses.
Still little legal
Restrictions
However, the low density of broadband connections to the Internet is an obstacle to rapid use of the new forms of advertising. According to Freytag's estimates, the new forms of advertising cannot be deployed on a broad basis before the end of the year.
It remains to be seen whether the merging of content and advertising will be legally curbed in the future, as is the case with radio and television. In Switzerland, the Internet does not fall within the scope of the Radio and Television Act (RTVA).
According to Alfred Hostettler of Bakom's Radio and Television Division, there is no reason yet to apply the RTVA to Internet TV: "With its so far small mass impact and low transmission quality, it does not yet fall within the scope of the RTVA." This could soon change thanks to broadband offensives by Swisscom and Cablecom.
Without merging content and advertising, Europe Online Networks S.A., Luxembourg, is already taking advantage of the Internet for interactive advertising: The operator of a satellite-based and terrestrial broadband Internet network offers advertisers the opportunity to run spots during which viewers can click a mouse to request more detailed information about the advertised product.
In the future, Europe Online, which streams programs from CNBC and Eurosport, among others, wants to develop solutions for online advertising in broadband Internet networks together with the Internet marketer AdLink Internet Medien AG, Montabaur. Europe Online currently serves around 55,000 customers throughout Europe.
Interactive advertising becomes
still little used
In Switzerland, advertising spots on the Internet are usually seen only in very simple forms. The possibilities for targeting and interactivity are only little used by advertisers. TV stations that broadcast their full program live on the Internet show the same commercials as on TV, although the Internet - especially with larger audiences - would also offer the opportunity to address different target groups with different commercials.
Even on the websites of the companies that make their commercials available online, one hardly finds any Internet-specific applications or further developments. "Internet-specific" is still mostly synonymous with: small and blurry.
