It’s conference season. Come to think of it, it’s always conference season. With good business reasons to attend at least four in the past two weeks, I chose two. The Newspaper Association of America’s annual marketing conference in Las Vegas revealed a revitalized industry - thanks to its online contingent. See my writeup of the NAA conference for some good news about an old medium that is fighting back.

The iMedia Brand Summit in Bonita Springs, FL brought together the usual crowd of brand marketers, ad agencies and publishers for three days of networking and sessions about the “art of digital conversation.” Coverage of the event, including our presentation to sellers, is available online.

Randy Falco, recently appointed Chairman & CEO of AOL, gave the opening day keynote. His TV roots were showing. After more than 20 years at NBC, he arrived at AOL with the mission of improving ratings and stepping up the ladder whose top rung reads “Google.” He showed us a slide of the top US online properties ranked by ad revenue as part of what would be no more than an extended commercial for AOL.

Look, we all know that Google, Yahoo!, AOL and MSN command more than half of all online ad revenue. But why on earth would you make a big deal of your intention to grab even more share in front of an audience full of publishers ranging from Answers to CBS, Fox to Orbitz, Tribune to Weatherbug? (I won’t even mention the unkind comments I heard from ad agency and marketer executives.)

So during Q&A I asked Mr. Falco, “As a former TV guy, how do you really feel about four large companies consolidating so much of the web’s inventory and revenue? I mean, aren’t we kind of replicating the broadcast television market?”

He said he liked it fine. Said it was good for everyone. Said AOL is planning many great new programs for its loyal audiences. Then the fire alarm rang. Literally, he was saved by the bell as we filed out of the ballroom and into a rare Florida fog because of a false alarm.

The web has room for every kind of business - large and small. Broadband is great, and we’re all confident that digital video will proliferate in good ways. But please let’s all remember that we are a unique and powerful medium, not a substitute for or imitation of television. Mr. Falco, as leader of one of the dominant companies on the web, you have the power to help move the entire industry forward. There are thousands of us out here, and you need us as much as we need you.

As a newcomer to our neighborhood, it will do you well to take this simple advice: get interactive.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 9th, 2007 at 11:08 am and is filed under About Right Media, Publishers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.