Don't look now, but there are 1,300+ Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) channels available free of charge on the Internet. And to think that back in the 1980s some thought cable TV was content overload, with its forty some-odd channels (plus cursing). But IPTV isn't merely a vast choice of content broadcast online; its offerings are richly featured with user options for viewers and the content is largely tailored by a demand as finite as the niche-friendly Internet allows. A confluence of factors, mostly due to Internet based technology, has created tempting opportunities for online advertisers. This bodes well for all involved in the interactive niche, from advertising agencies like ICMediaDirect.com to search marketers of all sizes and even freelance professionals. Let's take a closer look.

The convergence that IPTV represents, where television meets the PC, owes much to the explosion of broadband capability that's well on its way to becoming the standard, as opposed to a luxury. Broadband connection should simply be thought of as a greater performance capability between your computer and the Internet, a wider spigot for information flow, if you will. And through this spigot we receive data in the form of Internet Protocol packets that make up content for media consumption. Improvements in software and computers allow us to watch hi-resolution video along with stereo quality sound on our home computers.

The promise in this capability is not lost on media companies and advertisers. Cognizant that online advertising topped $12.5 billion in 2005, up about $3 billion from the previous year, IPTV is being eyed like candy as the centerpiece for the telecom dream of delivering the ?triple play? to consumers.

This ballyhooed triple play is the convergence of voice, data, and video - telecoms are best poised to capture this prized market, through partnerships from the big Internet players of course. Many of the deals we see today, most recently Google's agreement to syndicate and distribute Viacom offerings to third-party web properties, will be ramped-up until the medium firmly establishes itself. Indeed, the advertisers like Google will get good practice at delivering web-based video ads through content like MTV or VH-1 that allow a decent degree of targeting with full measurability on the behalf of the advertiser.

And the plans are ambitious with good reason. According to the Multimedia Research Group IPTV subscribers currently number somewhere shy of 4 million today while some 36.9 million is projected by 2009. This number may sound ambitious, but I think it isn't. Just look at YouTube's runaway success. In less than the course of one year this video on demand website went from scratch to the number 16 most trafficked website, according to Alexa.com. Friends have forwarded most of us YouTube videos; I consider it is the ultimate viral platform yet witnessed via the Internet. And speaking of YouTube, I also believe that because it is a platform, a service that's enabled by recent improvement in broadband coverage and video capabilities of hand-helds and PCs, it will be hard-pressed to maintain its stunning dominance in the field. The methodology is simple enough that it will be duplicated. YouTube will likely pair with a bigger fish (Yahoo, perhaps) and become a footnote in the larger convergent trend that brings this triple play to life.

Just as the competitive marathon runner knows no finish line, neither does this field. The elusive ?quad? play, that's voice, data, video with mobility is talked about now, too. I guess I'm some kind of pawn, since I use a Cingular 8125 pocket PC. I walked into a Cingular store to see what I could do about securing a cheaper plan since my carryover minutes are now numbering in the thousands. I don't really know what happened, but I walked out with this computer/video camera/phone/etc. that fits in my pocket. At least we know salesmanship still counts.

The actions of media companies today are done with a surety that advertising money will follow. Just this week Comcast cable, bolstered by a recently expanded online-sales team, announced it will be opening its Comcast.net portal to all customers. Comcast will recruit customers to its high-speed-data transmission access and deliver them ad supported content with online video entertainment being paramount. This cable giant is not merely expanding its online presence, but potentially positioning itself to primarily becoming an interactive content provider ? that's the scope of convergence. Ad budgets are making online allowances to fill the inventories for moves like Comcast's and you can be sure that this convergent trend will continue.