电视广告不死

    同时，继续发展互动式电视广告的呼声也很高。弗雷斯特研究公司的戴维•库伯斯坦表示：“短期内得以发展的可能性更大。”尼尔森市场研究公司（Nielsen）最近发布了一份报告称，美国人平均每天看电视的时间为4.5小时，在此期间，他们有20%的时间都在打电话，占据的时间是调查中最高的一类活动。公司和应用软件开发商都在利用这种趋势，开发出多种低成本的电视互动方式。

    举例来说，IOS平台音乐软件公司Shazam开发了一种应用软件，能够及时捕捉电视广告正在播放的内容，从而为观众提供相应的优惠券、下载服务和相关链接。宝洁公司（Procter & Gamble）、本田汽车公司（Honda）和美国运通公司（American Express），以及Bravo和Oxygen电视台都尝试了这种软件。电视应用开发商IntoNow公司在刚成立三个月后就于去年被雅虎（Yahoo）收购，该公司的理念与前者类似。以今年超级碗比赛期间百事极（Pepsi Max）广告为例，IntoNow用户只要点选该广告，就能获得一张百事可乐免费券。目前MTV音乐电视台也正在开发适用的Shazam和IntoNow服务模式。

    但这并不是说未来互联网企业不能继续扩大在美国广告业市场上的份额，也不意味着网络电视公司不该再继续创立独木舟创业公司这种创新企业。据估计，美国广告市场价值为1,500亿美元。为了应对在线视频广告和传统电视广告之间越来越激烈的竞争形势，包括Google、雅虎、美国在线（AOL）和微软公司（Microsoft）在内的一批实力雄厚的科技企业，将于四月份举办广告业务大会，力图通过展示各种不同的在线广告市场营销机会来吸引广告客户。这实际上是在效仿美国的UpFront大会，也就是各大电视台广告预售活动。UpFront大会通常于每年五月举办，电视公司管理层都将云集于此。

    但毫无疑问的是，2012年电视广告将保持自身优势并成为大赢家。今年的美国总统选战，以及将在伦敦举行的夏季奥运会都将推动电视观众人数的猛增，电视广告的收益也将非常可观。

    译者：李玫晓/汪皓

    All the same, high hopes remain for ITV going forward. "The possibilities have gotten richer in a short period of time," says David Cooperstein of Forrester Research. Nielsen recently released a report saying that Americans, who watch an average of 4.5 hours per day, are on their phone for 20% of the time they're actually in front of the TV.—the largest proportion of time for any activity in the survey. Companies and app developers are capitalizing on this trend, coming up with different ways to interact with TV for a lot less money.

    Shazam, for instance, offers an app that can hear what commercial is playing and then deliver the viewer coupons, downloads, or relevant links. Procter & Gamble (PG), Honda (HMC), and American Express have tried Shazam, as well as networks like Bravo and Oxygen. IntoNow, which Yahoo (YHOO) bought last year three months after it launched, offers a similar concept. During the Pepsi Max (PEP) advertisement at this year's Super Bowl, for instance, IntoNow users were sent a coupon for a free Pepsi if they simply tagged the ad. MTV is building out its own version of Shazam and IntoNow.

    That's not to say that internet firms won't get a larger piece of the estimated $150 billion U.S. ad industry, and that networks should stop creating ventures like Canoe. In a cheeky nod to the increasing competition between online video advertising and traditional television advertising, an amalgam of high-powered tech firms -- Google (GOOG), Yahoo, AOL (AOL), and Microsoft (MSFT) -- is holding an advertising conference in April to woo advertisers by presenting different marketing opportunities for companies to create online-only ads. The conference is essentially a copycat of the UpFront conference that TV network executives traditionally throw in May.

    All the same, it seems that TV advertising will almost certainly retain its edge and emerge as the big winner for 2012—and with an election in Washington and the summer Olympics in London both boosting TV viewership, the prize will be considerable.