What was the biggest innovation in video?
Currie: Adoption of full episode players across the four big networks. This is an innovation in business rather than technology. It is a brave leap forward for networks to tinker with how they are paid for the content they produce. It's a game-changing decision, and the writers strike is only one example of the fallout that is coming from it. As acceptance picks up, this format could share screen time with DVRs.
Roell: The start of speech recognition on UGVs and making them related to a user's search or interest. We, as marketers, are then obviously in the advantage to place targeted and relevant promotions around them, so good for the user and good for the marketer.
What was the biggest innovation in mobile?
Currie: Surprise. It's the iPhone. It's either innovation or just a breath of fresh air to simply offer the same web experience that PCs have. Also, the sliding panel interface metaphor is a blueprint for lots of small screen applications to come.
Edwards: Google opening up the platform. Combine this news with the iPhone's aggressive deal with ATT, and perhaps the carrier stranglehold on innovation is loosening.
Roell: The integration of GPS-based systems into marketers' messages and tools. Having the campaign or the tool know what my current location is makes it so cool to get nearby information.
What was the biggest innovation in targeting?
Currie: Facebook's Beacon still feels like the right direction even if Facebook did it wrong and got its hand slapped. This is what digital has been promising for a long time. And while it may not be a good idea to broadcast my purchase behavior to all my friends, it is the beginning of an era where I do not have to look at ads that are completely wrong for me.
Edwards: Facebook's Beacon. It fumbled the initial roll-out but will recover fast. Friend-based targeting has a better shot at understanding context or behavior than the current technology-only solutions.
Did anything come to fruition this year that you thought you'd never see?
Cheyney: Facebook's open API.
Currie: Sony stumbles with the PS3 and it may cost it the fight for the living room screen. Console gaming is really a fight to own the next digital media distribution and social networking platform. Sony worked so hard on hardware, but neglected developer relations. That's one area Microsoft has down and it made all the difference.
Deierlein: I think that mobile is finally hitting and is real. I have been in the space for more than a decade and waiting for the promise of mobile. I think it has officially arrived and will be a bigger part of buys in 2008, even if it still comes from the "experimental budget" or "media slush fund."
Roell: A big surprise was The Wall Street Journal sale to News Corp. I am worried about the content of my popular daily read, and I am afraid that the world will become even more about sensations, gossips and crime, as one of the most reputable media outlets was sold.