I spent 4 hours at the Future of Television conference today and will spend all day Friday there.   IPTV Evangelist has a review and then I'll talk about my own impressions and observations.

Jewish Holocost Museum - where the Future of Television conf is being held

I came in near the end of the first panel:

 Panel 1
A View from the Top:
The Outlook for the Television Industry & Digital Media
This panel of top television and digital media industry executives will discuss the increasing importance digital media for the future of the television industry. Topics include viewer trends; programming for non-traditional platforms including online video, VOD, HD, IPTV, broadband and mobile; the future of advertising; the democratization of video production resulting from broadband penetration and falling operational costs; and new business models. What are the challenges and opportunities for the industry to build new revenue streams from digital media platforms?

Speakers
Jean-Briac (JB) Perrette, President, Digital Distribution, NBC Universal
David Poltrack, Chief Research Officer, CBS Corporation /President, CBS VISION
Peter Price, President, The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
Conrad Riggs, Co-Executive Producer, Mark Burnett Productions
Terry Mackin, EVP, Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.
Blair Westlake, Corporate VP, Media & Entertainment Group, Microsoft
Moderator: Andrew Wallenstein, Digital Media/TV Editor, Hollywood Reporter

Without really knowing any of these people what I quickly picked up is that behavioral targeting is changing how advertising is sold and how much of it is being sold, by taking portions of your audience and splitting it up to sub groups and then selling off that inventory of ads to interested advertisers.

I also listend to the second panel

 Global TV & the Emergence of Worldwide Content Distribution Networks
The widely hyped merging of the PC and TV is finally taking shape in a way that only a few people imagined during the late 1990s Internet boom. From kids in their dorm rooms to independent producers to big media companies, everyone seems to be producing content these days and the Internet is becoming a sort of worldwide TV network for audiences seeking entertainment, both mainstream and offbeat. With new global online video services such as Veoh and Joost, as well as place-shifting devices such as Slingbox, national boarders matter less and less in the television landscape. This panel will discuss the consequences of this development from the perspective of content creators, producers and advertisers as well as distributors and consumers.

Speakers
Eric Bader, SVP, Director of Digital Connections, MediaVest USA
Ian Blaine, CEO, thePlatform / SVP, Comcast Interactive
Greg Clayman, EVP, Digital Distribution & Business Development, MTV Networks
Jordan Hoffner, Head of Premium Content Partnerships, YouTube
Steve Mitgang, CEO, Veoh Networks
Bruce David Klein, President & Executive Producer, Atlas Media
Moderator: Mike Vorhaus, Managing Director, Frank N. Magid Associates

What I got out of this panel is most people are turning out to advertising while most distribution networks want to increase the opportunities and frequency of advertising.

I suppose, making advertising more relevant to the viewer is not a bad thing - but most just want to do away with being advertised to.   Some new devices that are no so high tech, but provide marketing data and were liked in beta tests, were spoken about.

The keynote was actually given at the end of Day 1:

5:15PM - 5:45PM
KEYNOTE
Larry Aidem, CEO & President, Sundance Channel

I liked the keynote the best, actually.   Larry Aidem, who I happened to be sitting right behind, near the front row, spoke about staying true to yourself and what branding means for a Cable Channel showing original content for which they get full rights to before showing.

"if your going to fail, fail on your own terms"

I got an idea about branding just by listening to Larry Aidem - perhaps the first, concreate defination of branding in a way that makes sense to me - here goes:

A Brand orginates as a "philosophy" about a product/service, that, through it's execution and attributes, communicates meaningful differences to one or more of the Brand's target audiences.

If you think about it, there are many brands that are not, for the most part, brands by my definition.  For example, the difference between Chocolate Bars like Hershey and Nestle is noticeable enough - but becomes most meaningful when it reflects the idea that made the products different in the first place.  To most people, it's either the packaging or the taste that are the main differences.

But there may be some people who are fanatics about a certain Chocolate Bar - those people will really notice differences that make their favorite brand different. 

In a lot of cases, there is not meaningful difference between different brand of say..insurance (except rates for insurance) and house plans you can buy over the internet - most sites are selling things that look so similar, same plans often, that the idea of Brand doesn't' seem to fit.

But where there's no brand - I guess, there's be commodization - the grayness of having a bunch of products / services that are similar all blend in, so it's hard to tell them apart.  

I think, most of the time, brands no longer really reflect meaningful differences in the products the brands sell - just different packaging of the same things - in which case, most people just buy least expensive.

In my view, based on the Larry Aidem keynote - a brand ought to reflect the original idea that makes it different in such a way that target gets it - and the philospophy is reflected down to the smallest detail.

I'm going to be at the Future of Television Conference as a blogger on November 8th and November 9th, 2007 in Lower Manhattan.  

A couple of things I'll try to cover on the first day (depending on how much time I can spend at the conference) are:

2:15PM - 3:00PM
What’s Next: The Top Five Digital Media Trends to Watch and Why
Did the meteoric rise of MySpace and YouTube catch you by surprise? These leading analysts give their opinions on the top five digital media trends that you need to be watching and why. How will they impact the television industry and how can you be prepared?

Presenters
Tim Herbert, Sr. Director of Research, Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)
Mark Donovan, CMO & Senior Analyst, M:Metrics
Shelly Palmer, Chairman, Advanced Media Committee, The Emmy Awards, NY

3:00PM – 3:50PM
Panel 1
A View from the Top:
The Outlook for the Television Industry & Digital Media
This panel of top television and digital media industry executives will discuss the increasing importance digital media for the future of the television industry. Topics include viewer trends; programming for non-traditional platforms including online video, VOD, HD, IPTV, broadband and mobile; the future of advertising; the democratization of video production resulting from broadband penetration and falling operational costs; and new business models. What are the challenges and opportunities for the industry to build new revenue streams from digital media platforms?

Speakers
Jean-Briac (JB) Perrette, President, Digital Distribution, NBC Universal
David Poltrack, Chief Research Officer, CBS Corporation /President, CBS VISION
Peter Price, President, The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
Conrad Riggs, Co-Executive Producer, Mark Burnett Productions
Terry Mackin, EVP, Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.
Blair Westlake, Corporate VP, Media & Entertainment Group, Microsoft
Moderator: Andrew Wallenstein, Digital Media/TV Editor, Hollywood Reporter

 I'll also be at the reception afterwards.

5:45PM - 6:45PM
COCKTAIL RECEPTION
Museum of Jewish Heritage
Hosted by:
 

The weird thing is there's actually more going on Friday, the last day of the conference, than on Thrusday - usually it's the other way around.

10:05AM - 10:50AM
Panel 1
New Television Technologies You Need to Know
This panel will discuss the effects of new television technologies, including digital television, HDTV, set-top boxes, digital video recorders (DVRs), video on demand (VOD), wireless devices, broadband video and Internet TV, on the future of television. How are consumers responding to the introduction of these new technologies? What are the opportunities and challenges for broadcasters and cable companies in introducing new technologies? Which technologies and services will have the greatest impact on the future of television? What are the disruptive effects, if any?

Speakers
Charles Cerino, VP-New Media, Comcast / Pres., Multimedia over Coax Alliance
Steve Jacobs, VP, Broadband Alliances, Sony Corporation of America
Rich Buchanan, VP, Marketing, Sling Media
Jeff Siegel, SVP, Regional Sales, Direct Response & Emerging Media, ESPN
Dan Simpkins, CEO, Hillcrest Labs
Moderator: Kurt Scherf, VP & Principal Analyst, Parks Associates

2:00PM - 2:45PM
Panel 3A
Monetizing Consumer Generated Video:
What Is an Acceptable Model for Consumers and the Television Industry?
The success of social networking sites MySpace and YouTube has created a buzz about consumer generated media. Does the mass attraction to these sites represent a power shift from a traditional top-down model of corporate media to a bottom-up model focused on consumer generated content? How can traditional media businesses connect with this consumer mindset? Can content created by consumers be the backbone of a viable business model? How do you recapture some of the profitability that goes away when people watch television differently than they have historically? This panel will discuss some of the most promising technologies behind ad-insertion, ad serving, on-demand technologies and back-end management technologies that are reinventing the relationship between technology and advertising.

Speakers
Eric D. Alterman, Chairman & Founder, KickApps
Ron Berryman, SVP, GM – FOX Stations Group, Fox Interactive Media
Sean Carey, Senior Executive Vice President, Sony Pictures Television
Michael Gordon, Chief Strategy Officer & Co-Founder, Limelight Networks
Jon Vlassopulos, VP, Bus Dev, Strategic Planning & New  Media, Endemol USA
Moderator: Lydia Loizides, Vice President, New Media Division, Paradigm

Of course, there's metrics …. and what would all of this be with out that - and that part, even if I missed half of the other stuff…I won't miss:

:45PM - 3:30PM
Panel 4A
Who’s Watching (and are they buying anything)?
The Evolution of Metrics and Analytics for Television 2.0
The decline of the 30-second spot and the emergence of Internet TV, VOD and other more measurable forms of distribution puts more pressure then ever on television broadcasters to provide more reliable measurements of who is watching what and, ultimately, deliver increased accountability to advertisers. How reliable are the measurements of offline and online television viewing today? What is being done to improve television measurements and analytics and when can we expect measurable improvement?

Speakers
Todd Juenger, VP & GM, Audience Research & Measurement, TiVo
Larry Moskowitz, Chairman, Teletrax
Ken Papagan, President & Chief Strategy Officer, Rentrak Corporation
Howard Shimmel, SVP, Client Insights, The Nielsen Company
Moderator: Seth Geiger, President, SmithGeiger, LLC

I'll also cover the last session:

4:00PM - 4:45PM
Panel 5B
Innovations That Are Shaping the Future of Television
From interactive television to IPTV to mobile, new technologies are improving the consumer experience and opening up new distribution channels and revenue opportunities to video content owners. This panel will discuss some of the key innovations - from video search to interactive program guides to mobile video and advertising innovations - that are shaping the future of television.

Speakers
Steve Johnson, CEO & Co-Founder, ChoiceStream, Inc.
Bill Holmes, VP, Bus. Dev. & Strategy, DivX, Inc.

One thing I need to say … often I wear many hats - part of my work is as a Web Analyst, but another part now, is as a Board Director for the Web Analytics Association - my Social Media Committee can use the input from some of the attendees at the Future of Television conference - especially for our Social Media Video
Metrics standards doc that we'll be releasing early next year.