iTV – It’s Here! Ben Mendelson, Pres. ITV Alliance iTV – It’s Here! Ben Mendelson, Pres. ITV Alliance General Session

What is iTV? for the viewer: It’s about the “thumb”. It’s about new things you can do with the remote control. for the advertiser: It’s about a new relationship with the viewer. New Tools. New Value. New Opportunity.

Alphabet Soup VOD (video on demand) IPG (interactive program guide) DVR (digital video recorder) eTV (enhanced Television) xTV (extended Television) Home-entertainment gateway

iTV is here. TODAY Over 30M homes have digital set top boxes (DSTB). All have IPGs. Many have eTV. Over 40M homes regularly use a computer or cell phone while watching TV. Over 10M homes have digital cable. This will double in And double again in Over 60% of the UK is iTV-enabled. The rest of Europe and parts of Asia are close behind. Over 100 companies have joined together to form the iTV Alliance.

ITV advertising is here. TODAY ITV turns TV ads from passive, impression- based Branding into targetable, trackable Direct Marketing Kraft, P&G, GM, etc. have been deploying successful iTV campaigns. Not testing, not trials, not prototypes. You don’t need 20M homes to be effective. 10,000 relationships are more valuable than 1million eyeballs.

ITV is an opportunity. Not a problem. An opportunity to find receptive, opt-in, niche audiences An opportunity to track the effectiveness of a campaign An opportunity to build and reinforce consumer relationships

iTV – It’s Here! Marty Yudkovitz, Pres. Tom Hagopian, GM TiVo Open TV Adam Gerber, SVP Karin Goss, SVP MediaVest WW GM MediaWorks General Session