Digital TV vs internet: similarities suggest future opportunities for SMEs to advertise on digital TV

Television has been a medium commonly used by enterprises to promote their values, products, services and offers. TV advertising can be expensive, affordable only to enterprises with a substantial budget for promotion. That leaves a great number of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) out of the TV advertising business. In contrast, the Internet has presented SMEs with some interesting tools and services that help them advertise more easily on the web. TV's current development leads to a broadband connected and more interactive environment. Which leads us to the question: can Digital TV offer elements similar to the Internet, that help SMEs in the process of creating and running an advertising campaign? This paper looks at tools and services on the Internet, that suit SMEs advertising needs and limitations and then focuses on similar elements among emerging services and applications made for Digital TV. The focus remains on three key elements: ACCOUNTABILITY, ADDRESSABILITY and PRODUCTION.