This Commercial Is Just For You

Overhype

from the good-luck-with-that-plan dept

Now that TV execs have agreed to a standardized metadata tagging system for commercials, it should be no surprise that plenty of startups are working on technology to create much more personalized TV ads, from targeting specific demographics, all the way to being able to create customized ads with a target of a single household. In other words, just like those old magazine ads that used your name, expect TV commercials that start out “Hi there, Mr. Resident…” or however else they’re likely to screw up your name in their database. They’re hoping that this will make people more interested in watching ads, but it’s not clear this will really work in a TiVo generation. Today’s advertising can’t be intrusive any more, but has to be much more responsive. Companies like Honda, BMW and American Express seem to have figured this out, but it may take a while for others to catch on.