VIEQUES, Puerto Rico — Advertisers, media companies and programmers have been grappling with convergence for more than twenty years, and it’s finally taking shape in some areas, notably with TV-quality content across platforms, says Rob Norman, Chief Digital Officer at GroupM Global, during an interview with Beet.TV at the Beet Retreat 2013 in Vieques, Puerto Rico.
We sat down with him to discuss what convergence truly means. When it comes to TV, the fact that full-episode players, video-on-demand and broadcast content can be sold together suggests convergence is “locked” in that one area, he says. But the industry is still trying to understand what convergence means when it comes to sites such as Hulu that’s carrying traditional TV but also its own original content.
“A Hulu-type environernt and a full-episode type environment create different challenges from a streamed network-delivery environment,” he says. “There are new types of units we can use…and advertisers are also thinking about how to exploit the opportunity of a lower ad load in a full episode player environment.” Norman also delves into different meanings of convergence, whether from a device or content perspective, as well as what converence might mean for audience impressions and measurement.
-Daisy Whitney
