The MoPR Blog

Every year, CED Magazine compiles a list of the 50 most compelling and important technologies, people and trends influencing the industry.  For 2008, their writers again consulted the industry’s leading technical minds to craft their list.  Not surprisingly, we immediately noticed three trends on the list that strike close to home based on our clients and our own experience.

1. Targeted Ads: This was listed as No. 2 on the big 50 list.  Needless to say, targeted ads have swept the industry and the technology behind their delivery has exploded. RGB Networks announced back in May 2007 their revolutionary approach to targeted advertising with the use of digital overlays and it would seem as though the industry has caught on.  The ability to deliver ads to an advertiser’s specific target demographic is where the operators are making big money these days.
2. Customer Retention: Listed as No. 4, this topic has been arguably the most popular subject for 2008.  As Brian Santo writes, “It’s desirable to play good offense and good defense.” And how to do that?  Monitor, monitor, monitor! Mixed Signals has been at the forefront of this trend- having pushed for content monitoring back at its inception in 2004- and have remained a strong proponent for content monitoring as way for operators to retain subscribers.The need for cable operators to ensure that their subscribers enjoy the highest Quality of Experience (QoE) is a key priority as subscribers are being wooed aggressively by satellite and telecom. Closely monitoring their programming to quickly solve video and audio glitches is a primary way operators can improve QoE.
3. Show Mergers: Combining the big trade shows comes in at No. 18 on this year’s list, which might not be a bad idea, especially to keep travel expenses down as travel budgets are increasingly dropping.As Traci Patterson writes, “In April, Washington, D.C., will host the NCTA’s The Cable Show, CableLabs’ conferences and the SCTE Conference on Emerging Technologies (ET), all at once. And in October, CTAM Summit, the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo, the Cable Center Hall of Fame Dinner and a CableLabs seminar will come together in Denver.”

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if it works. But for now, we’re thinking this has the potential to be very convenient and hopefully successful show.