Addressable Ads Could Reinvigorate TV

Rather than bombarding millions of TV viewers with the same ads for things many of them may not be looking to buy, marketers could in the next two to three years send different ads to different households -- making certain, for example, that Procter & Gamble wouldn't have to pay for Pampers ads watched by a couple with no wee tykes and General Motors wouldn't have to show ads for its Hummer vehicles to a house full of Prius enthusiasts. Addressable TV ads -- which many believe are the simplest solution for advertisers wringing their hands over ad skipping and DVR viewing -- are currently being buoyed by developments on several fronts. Canoe Ventures, a consortium of the nation's biggest cable providers, will soon be able to offer advertisers the ability to digitally tweak their commercials so they can send one version to one audience and a different execution to another. The group expects the technology, known as "creative versioning," to be available to advertisers in 60 million homes in the first quarter of 2009.