INTERNET FERTILE GROUND FOR PSAs, KAISER SEMINAR IS TOLD
With advertisers staying away in droves, time on Internet “is going begging,” offering great opportunity for public interest groups to place their public service announcement (PSAs) in unsold time, according to Claudia Caplan, ex-pres. of Earthlink. In Thurs. seminar in Washington sponsored by Kaiser Family Foundation (CD Feb 22 p3), she said of Internet advertising: “No one can figure out a way to make it work.”
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
AOL Time Warner Vp Virginia McEnerney said her company was working on plan for “nonprofits.” Tests are under way on AOL properties, she said, to determine which media outlets are best for which public interest groups. “AOL is totally committed to nonprofits,” she said, and “we're open to suggestions… In a year, we'll know a lot more on what works and what doesn’t work.” Andrew Schwartzman of Media Access Project predicted “only a fraction of the potential” of Internet and other new technologies would be utilized successfully by public interest groups. He said nonprofits hadn’t figured out yet how to use new technologies, and public interest groups would have to go to Internet entrepreneurs “and beg” for PSA placements -- just as they do now with commercial broadcasters.
Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff warned traditional TV advertisers had better be prepared to change ways they did business. “On-demand TV is the way we are going,” which provides ability for viewer to delete commercials, he said. “People are ready to change the way they watch TV,” he said, predicting on-demand capability would be in 30-40% of U.S. TV households within 5 years. That will force advertisers to find new ways to reach public, Bernoff said.
Internet privacy was major concern. “It’s a little bit scary,” Caplan said of huge amount of information entrepreneurs can learn about Internet users. McEnerney said: “Privacy is a real concern.” Schwartzman said adding content placed by advertisers as part of Internet programming raised very “fuzzy area.” Larry Kirkman, dean of U. of Md. School of Communications, said “real debate” was needed on role of public interest groups in placing content in programming. Kaiser Foundation issued study showing Big 4 TV networks averaged 17 sec. per hour to free PSAs, of which 43% was between hours of midnight-6 a.m., with only 9% in prime time. Cable networks on average donated average of 5 sec. per hour, with MTV highest at 16 sec.