LAS VEGAS — CES may have been a tech<\/em> show and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) may have been established to advocate digital<\/em> advertising – but there is a growing school of thought that suggests digital brands need good ‘ol TV, too.<\/p>\n In this video interview with Beet.TV,\u00a0IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg says he sees an “explosive opportunity for television networks” – the growth in direct-to-consumer brands, many of them wholly digital – which need to gain consumer awareness outside of the hyper-competitive digital environment.<\/p>\n “It’s a very competitive marketplace, they need to break through,”Rothenberg says. “They’ve been very successful in their launch phases, marketing using social networks and some other things.<\/p>\n “But now, in order to be even more competitive, they need to move into main media. And so we’re seeing that over and over and over again. These companies, at a certain point in time (generally, we think it’s around three to five years into their life span), they’re looking at TV and radio, and they’re achieving a lot of success as a result.”<\/p>\n Last year, IAB worked with Dun & Bradstreet to produce research illustrating the trend.<\/p>\n The pair’s IAB 250 Direct Brands To Watch<\/a>\u00a0showed two things – first, the extent to which many new brands are foregoing intermediary retail going direct to consumers; second, the extent of competition within that set.<\/p>\n This is a different world because, unlike those which use retailers as intermediaries, brands which have first-party ecommerce data on their own consumers and prospects can take it in to advertising environments.<\/p>\n “That’s one of the interesting hurdles for the television industry in attracting direct brands … first-party relationships realized through first-party data are the core asset of the enterprise,” Rothenberg adds. “So, the challenge (also the opportunity, frankly) for television, for radio, for print is to:<\/p>\n Rothenberg’s observation was echoed by Video Advertising Bureau<\/a>, whose own research<\/a> last year identified 80 new brands – largely, digital and direct-to-consumer – which are now spending $2.6 billion in US TV ads.<\/p>\n To capitalize, IAB’s Rothenberg says television companies must more fully integrate their cable and digital assets, analytic abilities, strategic abilities, understanding of consumers and marketplaces and their expertise at storytelling.<\/p>\n\n