Analyzing the flip-flop crowd's digital shifts.

While much has been made of the dangers DVRs, iPods, Internet video streaming and mobile streaming cause TV stations' ad revenues, another quandary faces station executives--what the ubiquity of these new platforms will do to TV program promotions and marketing. And this is a topic that directly concerns the 3,200-plus executives who will attend the 2006 Promax/BDA Conference, to be held June 20-22, once again, at the Marriott Marquis in New York City, in direct conflict with the Licensing Show, held a short taxi ride away, at the Javits Center (see front cover story). But this year, the conference tagline, "Xtreme Performance: Developing Audiences in the Televisual Age," seems to say it all.

Promax's focus on digital platforms is proven with the Frank N. Magid Associates study the organization commissioned to test young viewers' attitudes towards cell phones, TV and the Internet. According to Promax/BDA president and CEO Jim Chabin, the impetus for the survey came from a U.S. Census Bureau report that said the 1224-year-olds are the biggest generation since the baby boomers. The Bureau predicted that in five years, 12-24-year olds will make up 50 percent of the advertiser coveted 18-49 demo. "Because they look at TV and the Web very differently than any other generation does, we decided to find out which of the three platforms--cell phone, TV or Internet--they'd be most willing to give up." The information will be published for the first time at this year's conference.

Promax/BDA--an organization for promotion, marketing and broadcast design professionals in electronic media--hosts 11 conventions all over the world (including Australia, India, the U.K. and Russia), but, according to, Chabin, the U.S. event, "is the result of collective thinking from all the other conferences all over the world."

He said that, this year, many of the panel speakers were handpicked favorites from other editions. In the case of new and evolving technologies, Chabin said it's helpful to choose speakers from countries where those technologies are at a more advanced stage, specifically Asian territories. "We bring together people who are the best of the game who all speak the common knowledge of television.

"TV suffers from a sameness," he said, "and global input helps create more unique brands."

But that doesn't mean the focus is entirely international, said Chabin. "We still have a commanding series of conferences that tackle the domestic market," he said. The broadcast networks, including, "ABC, the CW, Discovery, Fox and Scripps Howard, just off the top of my head," said Chabin, will hold affiliate meetings throughout the course of the two-day conference.

"The world of TV changed when Disney announced its downloading deals," said Chabin, referring to ABC's deal with Apple in which episodes of its primetime hits were made available for the first time on Apple's iPods, "and now station groups and entertainment companies have to market wherever they are going to be." He concluded "People need to know how to promote their content, and they come to Promax to learn how."

That may explain why this year, registration is skewing 15 percent higher than last year, and the Marriott and nearby W Hotel have been sold out. For this reason, 2007 Promax/BDA will take place at the larger New York Hilton Hotel; the organization has signed an agreement with the Hilton, and will stay in that location instead, for the next five years.

Chabin recognized that the biggest challenge in organizing the event is "staying relevant," but he said he manages to do that by inviting executives that are at the forefront of new technologies and promotions within those. Among those scheduled to speak at keynote sessions are AOL for Broadband COO Kevin Conroy, Fox Television Stations' president of Station Operations Dennis Swanson Marketing execs from Hearst-Argyle, NBC Universal (both digital and traditional marketing departments) and the Middle East Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), among others, will impart advice on participants.

In terms of how they choose speakers, Chabin said the common thread is, "knowledge of the digital transformation of society. They have to be able to give us information that can be relevant for the future," he said. "People are going to need to figure out how to stream localized weather information and news, because in a short period of time, the television business is going to change drastically."