Crafting TV Ads for the Digital Age

Marketers are already scrambling to figure out how best to adjust their 30-second TV spots for viewing via the web and on iPod screens. But as the nation prepares for the big shift from analog to digital TV on Feb. 17 next year, what could be a major conundrum has opened up for advertisers who love to make use of the wider high-definition screen. While traditional TV sets have for decades featured a 4:3 screen-size proportion, high-definition sets and the programming created for them have a much more rectangular 16:9 scope. Thus, ads crafted for high-definition broadcasts that show up on standard-definition sets could have their right and left sides digitally sliced off. Cries of concern are already surfacing in certain corners of the ad business, particular the creative side. "You work really hard to make the film look beautiful within the frame, and then somebody changes the frame on you," said Andy Langer, chief creative officer at Omnicom Group's Roberts & Tarlow agency. "They won't look as good, and they may not be as effective," he added. The move to digital frees up frequency for wireless broadband, not to mention police and fire communications. It also allows broadcasters to offer more high-definition programming and additional channels of content. But it also creates the potential for an "ad squeeze": Many living rooms, basements and bedrooms will still contain the older TV sets that aren't capable of showing high-definition ads in all their glory. Of the nation's approximately 113 million TV households, only 46 million have sets capable of receiving high-def content, a number that is expected to grow to only 55 million by the end of 2009, according to Forrester Research.
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