Just projecting forward the discussion in Faisal’s post yesterday ….

“ …. Targeted advertising will do wonders if you have local businesses and corner shops being able to advertise on local household TVs. However the telcos and channels do not have the capability to sell ad slots to local small businesses though some have their own Yellow Pages salespeople. Generally speaking the ad agencies only work with major brand advertisers. What is needed for this market to scale and take off is a web-based ad /media-buying agency able to provide self-help ad creation, campaign management and ad slot purchase. There are a number of companies starting to offer these services e.g. Spot Runner in the US and Spotzer from the Netherlands.….”

The problem with Spot Runner type web based business in TV adverting is the lead time. In this particular case the lead time for an advertiser to see his ad run on the TV is 14 days. A clearinghouse that consists of Spot Runner type web interface and an advertising server (or a server that works through APIs with an existing IPTV advertising server) could in theory cut down the lead time to zero. That is if there is demand for such instant gratification from the advertisers’ side. The fact that IPTV uses open source TCP/IP, such a clearinghouse would be easier to set up in an IPTV environment rather than in a legacy cable/satellite headend environment.

And if we are to believe that IMS will soon control IPTV elements as well, then the peering providers could be ideal for starting such IPTV advertising clearinghouse business. Another possible candidate could be sites promoting local communities.