Emerging digital media is not about throwing video or advertising online and expecting consumers to hand back cash, but about converting attention into action via referral and conversation.

That call came at the nextMEDIA conference in Toronto from keynote speaker Shelly Palmer, managing director of Advanced Media Ventures Group. But adds that a democratized multi-platform world where users have choices makes converting attention in the digital arena into ad dollars difficult, if not impossible. Palmer said providing content worth sharing between users in social communities is the best path.

Palmer had supporters at nextMEDIA in the form of fellow online producers, but also critics as the clash between old and new media resurfaced.

Barbara Williams, EVP of content at Canwest Broadcasting, said her network was willing to embrace new digital platforms to bring advertisers and audiences together online. Canwest is making content available on video-on-demand, on the web, including full episodes of hit series and streaming news content and promos that drive online users back to its main conventional and specialty channels. But Williams added that Canwest was not about to give away for free a traditional TV business it has built up over time.

‘We have to be playing with these tools to help advertisers get more in front of the consumers. But there’s also $600 million in traditional TV revenue that we have to protect,’ Williams told a panel on re-engineering the broadcast business.

From Playback Daily