10 Things I learned at AdTech

A simple, but hopefully enlightening post today. Its 10 things I learned at AdTech San Francisco:

1. Hulu Rocks! Good content, Tolerable commercial breaks (max of 1 per pod), Ability to embed, etc. Check it out.
2. Hulu doesn't negatively affect syndication. Instead it drives viewership for local partners. The theory is that people use Hulu to catch up on missed episodes rather than skip the rest of the season.
3. Premium Video is coming sooner than I expected. Much more willingness on the part of content owners, lots of new tools on the markets, beginning convergence of ad formats for video, etc. The pieces are coming into place quickly.
4. 3 Screen Experience. Nothing more than a spiffy catch phrase but it handles TV, PC, and Mobile quite well.
5. Mobile is easier to Monetize than the PC. This goes in the bucket of hidden wisdom, but seriously people will freely pay for mobile content (e.g. ringtones) even if they are loath to pay for PC content (e.g. the prevalence of piracy).
6. Time to Produce Online Video is Paramount. Great News for Qik. The time to produce video is a key ingredient in determining its ultimate 'success'. The example used was Walt Mossberg's review of the iphone. He did the video review immediately after first getting his hands on the phone, he did the video without a crew, he did it from his hotel room (with the bathroom door visible and half open!), but he got it done quickly.
7. Proactive Click-to-Chat can be effective. Cisco shared that 26% of leads generated from for their proactive click to chat converted. Note the 'proactive' part, this means the Cisco site is initiating the conversation!
8. Kids LOVE mobile. While Disney didn't share any specific numbers, they said mobile content has been by far their fastest growing content medium.
9. A Recession could cause a quicker transition from traditional media. During slowdown's ROI takes on new importance. The greater ability to quantify digital will be a strength in the downturn.
10. Lunch is by far the most fun networking opportunity. 30+ minutes of dedicated time where the topics can wonder from advertising to politics to pets. Note: if you do happen to sit down alone at a table filled with your competitors then it can become uncomfortable quickly. The adSense folks were nice to welcome me, but I think I stifled the conversation. Don’t be too obvious, but check out those badges before sitting down.

/Daniel