David Sable: Somebody Has To Pay

Gail Chiasson, North American Editor

You could sense the respect in the room for keynote speaker David Sable, Global CEO of Y&R, when he got up to address the almost 800 delegates attending the Digital Place-based Advertising Association’s Video Everywhere Summit Nov. 3/15 during New York Digital Signage Week.

L-R Barry Frey. president/CEO, DPAA; Cat Greenleaf, host of Talk Stoop; Jane Maas, an original 'Mad Woman'; David Sable, global CEO, Y&R

L-R Barry Frey. President/CEO, DPAA; ; Cat Greenleaf, host of Talk Stoop; Jane Maas, an original ‘Mad Woman’; David Sable, Global CEO, Y&R

Sable made a number of statements and predictions, including:

  • Cinema is still important;
  • Catalogues are back;
  • Online databases will never be a source for news;
  • TV audiences will get smaller;
  • The power of story-telling and video is getting stronger and stronger.

“Adults in the US will spend five hours and 31 minutes per day watching videos,” Sable said. “The action is on screens and screen sales have more than doubled globally in the past five years. We’re watching more and more. In 2014, there were 1,715 TV series available. There’s a continued demand for reruns. We stream. We binge. We watch screeens in taxis, in elevators, on the street.

“And Twitter enhances content. Advertising pays for the content. We’re now seeing Instagram debuting 30-second video ads. With 70% of Jimmy Fallon viewers watching online, they are now putting advertising on that. The future of ‘free’ is gone. Somebody has to pay.”

Sable said that creative is story-telling and that’s getting better. And how you distribute the story can be innovative.

“Technology allows us to innovate as never before,” he said.

Sable recommended that young people read, “Read everything. Read the Bible, read the Iliad and the Odyssey, read the classics and you’ll understand story-telling like never before.”


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