EBay’s Ad Trial Too ‘Narrow’ For Some

Cable networks are pulling out of eBay’s Online Media Exchange
systems.

The Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau (CAB), a television advertising
advocacy group, announced the
decision after member networks tested eBay’s online system for buying
and selling TV ad time and came away disappointed.

“It became apparent that the Media Exchange was too narrow an
application, had clear connectivity issues related to cable’s
emerging end-to-end e-business platforms and lacked the provisions
necessary for capturing critical strategic and idea-driven
intelligence during a buy,” CAB president and CEO Sean Cunningham
said in a statement.

EBay did not respond to a request for comment.

Cunningham also said that the refusal by major advertising agencies
to participate in the exchange helped the CAB decide to quit the
project.

The news comes only days after Google launched its own TV advertising trial. The company announced a deal with satellite television provider EchoStar
that will allow advertisers to purchase Google TV ads through an
auction model similar to Google’s Adwords product.

The deal with EchoStar will allow advertisers to target their ads by
demographic, time of day and channel, as well as pay only for actual
impressions delivered.

Marketers will be able to tell if viewers
change the channel during their commercial. Pricing will be on a cost-
per-thousand (CPM) basis.

JupiterResearch analyst Kevin Heisler called Google’s TV ad trial a
“game changer.”