After trying out eBay's hyped Media Marketplace, the most significant player in the business announced that the exchange is completely wrong and misguided.
The Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau said that they've made a permanent decision that they won't be using the exchange. The decision was based upon two factors: the first was that the functionality itself had a lot of problems, and second, it didn't represent the changing marketplace where the focus is on cross-platform deals. The exchange was created to sell and purchase spots for the most part. CAB didn't feel this could possibly serve their new needs.
Sean Cunningham, head of CAB, said that there was "evidence of someone developing a system in eBay that, despite the best counsel of top buyers in the business, was just not getting the scope of this business in terms of both current and future practice."
Of course this still goes back to the disconnect that happened when eBay released the exchange without consulting the potential users. This evidently is part of the permanent decision, even if it's not stated. Still, Cunningham has a point: How do you serve your customers if you aren't communicating to them about their specific needs and problems? That seems to be the real underlying failure of the product at this time.
The strong support and push for the system came mostly from buyers and also some marketers because of the time that could be saved in buying lower level spots; the major purpose for the system. It wasn't built for prime-time buying.
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