I had the pleasure on being on a very interesting panel this afternoon at BCFM. Dan Halyburton, the SVP Marketing Mgr. for Emmis NY started things off with a bangup presentation on how his group’s radio stations are using the web. Very impressive integration, original content, contests, texting features. Smart products all around. Then I gave my spiel, doing my best to scare the bejeezus out of people about how convergence cometh, and they best be prepared. Embarassingly, my PowerPoint presentation, prepared on my Mac, looked terrible when presented on a PC. Next up – Beth Higbee SVP of Interactive for Food Network (mmm… Food Network), Fine Living and GAC. We’ve written here before about our admiration for those sites. They’re clear to their mission and they’re great-looking. Beth talked about how her dedicated web sales staff (!) is having more success than the group was with a cross-platform sell. Speaking of sites LR admires, the CBS O/Os were represented by Jonathan Leess, President and GM for the CBS Television Stations Digital Media Group. Here’s the nugget: CBS O/O sites are getting a $41 CPM for video ads. Poor Bill Fitzsimmons, VP of Accounting & Financial Planning for Cox Communications had to wait until after a break because the rest of us were so verbose. (Imagine.) He presented the Cox “Premium Access Pass,” a monthly paid-subscription product for its broadband subs that offers a bundle of content.
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