Posted by: Mackenzie Ross, Conversion-Driven Media Specialist

In a recent article for ClickZ, Harry Gold explored interactive television as a developing technology. As marketers, we are interested in the changing dynamic of the interactive space and always looking out for the latest innovations. It appears that cable and satellite companies are gearing up to make television more interactive using Web-based technologies. The interesting part about marketing interactively on television is the immediate access to your audience while they are engaged.

Much of the technology already exists to make the smooth transition into television and Web integration. The remote in many ways acts as a mouse, with much of the same functionality to boot. Many cable companies actually populate their guides through the Internet to provide users with up-to-date programming information. You may notice that with your cable provider you are able to access Twitter, Facebook, the weather or games. These widgets are connected to the Internet and are available now.

In recent campaigns advertisers are using interactive television to attract customers to make purchase decisions as they view commercials. Gold mentioned a promotion that TiVo did with Dominos back in 2008 where you could order and access the Dominos menu through your television. More recently companies like Charmin and Budweiser have utilized interactive television for games and coupon distribution.

At 90octane, we are interested to see how the medium evolves and how it relates to driving conversions. The technology seems ideal to target consumers both through content and demographic information. You are also reaching out to the people in real-time and able to answer to their needs immediately. The cable companies have tons of user information (address, phone number, credit card information) that could be distributed to advertisers once a consumer expresses interest. We will be on the look-out in 2010 to see how interactive television evolves and watching as it is introduced to mainstream cable.