It’s all about consuming video, not watching TV.
It seems the whole industry that is television is beginning to wake up and discover that it isn’t at a crossroads anymore; it’s actually far down the wrong road. I’ll have a lot more to say about this in an essay later this week. Meanwhile, evidence of this surfaced Friday in Florida at an important gathering of TV executives from Nielsen Media Research, Scripps Networks, Masterfoods USA, TiVo, and Starcom MediaVest. MediaDailyNews reports that there was general agreement that TV advertising, the future of TV, and the media business must be called into question.

“TV today is less about watching TV than it is about consuming video in many different environments,” said Tim Hanlon, senior vice president-director of emerging contacts, Starcom Worldwide.

Adam Gerber, senior vice president-strategy and innovation, MediaVest, who moderated the panel and framed the discussion (said) “We need a more measurable research model — consumer control is here to stay, and user control displaces advertising as we know it.”

Advertisers, media agencies, and marketers must confront the issue of consumer control immediately, according to Bob DeSena, director of relationship marketing, Masterfoods USA: “An attitude adjustment is needed. The consumer has moved — we are the ones who need to catch up.”