Comcast's Roberts Says Convergence Is Here

NEW ORLEANS After many false starts and premature proclamations, the convergence of the personal computer and the TV has arrived in an almost fully integrated fashion, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts told a record crowd of more than 1,300 attending the opening session of the American Association of American Advertising Agencies' annual media conference in New Orleans.One of the major issues confronting the industry is how to measure all the consumer usage of new technologies that convergence is fostering such as video-on-demand. "We know that getting data into your hands is not happening as quickly as you'd like," Roberts told the 4A's crowd. "But just as we're creating new technologies, we're also creating new advertising models and working with you to accurately define the future possibilities."To that end, Roberts disclosed a new agreement between Comcast and Rentrak, a Portland, Ore.-based data management company whereby Rentrak will monitor VOD usage over Comcast's 22 million household subscriber universe and issue monthly reports that track various key metrics. While that's a start, it falls short of the 16 distinct and separate metrics that the 4A's has established as the goal for measuring audiences and usage in the VOD space, said Adam Gerber, senior vice president, group director, strategy and innovation at MediaVest USA. It's a point that Roberts acknowledged in his speech, noting that the Rentrak deal is a "simple start. Our priority was to start with uniformity, not granularity." During a panel session that followed Roberts' speech, Gerber pressed Warren Schlichting, vp of new business strategy at Comcast, for a strong commitment to work with the advertising and agency community to advance the MSO's monitoring capability to achieve all 16 measurements.Replied Schlichting: "We are committed to it," indicating that the announcement with Rentrack merely represented "phase one" of the company's effort to measure VOD audiences.But the gold standard would be to get household and demographic usage data. And that is something—at least at this point—that only Nielsen Media Research is equipped to provide because that is the only company measuring TV viewing of individual users in the U.S. today, Schlichting said.In order for Nielsen to even begin the VOD measurement process (which it hasn't), it needs to strike agreements with cable operators that would enable the ratings company to identify which customers have VOD-enabled set-top boxes. Schlichting said Comcast is in preliminary talks with Nielsen about such an agreement. Asked how soon a deal might be reached, he said, "It's still very early in the process."Of Comcast's digital VOD programming option, Roberts said: "We project that during 2005 our customers will view On Demand programming more than one billion times." "Our company and our industry is committed to working with you to seize new advertising opportunities that take advantage of technological advances," he said. "For far too long, cable has fallen short of its promise as an advertising medium. We are committed to changing that," he said, noting that Comcast systems are fully interconnected so that advertisers can reach most of its viewers with "one call, one buy and one invoice." Currently Comcast offers about 2,000 VOD program choices per month, and Roberts said that would increase to between 8,000 and 10,000 hours by the end of the year and include exclusive programming. The company is about to start trials that refresh ads in programs that viewers record and playback at a later time, he said.Roberts closed by acknowledging the growing number of choices that advertisers have in placing their ad dollars. "Convergence is here," he said. "Our view is if you invest, innovate and differentiate, you're going to be successful."

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Comcast's Roberts Says Convergence Is Here

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