Cable TV, Advertisers Join In Fight to Preserve Power

CABLE TV, ADVERTISERS JOIN IN FIGHT TO PRESERVE POWER
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Shira Ovide shira.ovide@dowjones.com]
Advertisers are teaming up with cable operators to fight back as the Web erodes the power of the traditional TV ad and as viewers use digital-video recorders to zip through commercials. Cable operators, through which a majority of Americans watch TV, are developing a new generation of marketing platform, including video-on-demand and interactive ads that marry traditional TV viewing with the ability to order coupons, target messages to specific viewers or interact in other ways that are more common online. The business model is nascent, but cable operators, which today generate less than 10% of their total revenue from advertising, have made such new advertising platforms among their highest future priorities. The ability to direct ads to viewers' specific interests or demographic groups is driving the growth of Internet advertising, and could fuel the new ad opportunities on cable platforms.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117928330711804439.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace
(requires subscription)

* Disney aims to sell trips via TV remote
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-disney16may16,1,7878503.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business