The main missions of the IRTS are to encourage young, talented people to enter the industry and to provide education and dialogue about important communication issues. As the industry's leading system provider for both the buying and selling communities, DDS is happy to promote open exchanges of ideas and information.

This year’s event, moderated by Tom Wolzien of Wolzien, LLC, focused on today’s media marketplace. Panelists were Sarah Fay of Carat Isobar, Bill Koenigsberg of Horizon Media, Jon Mandel of Nielsen Connect, Lyle Schwartz of Mediaedge:cia and Tim Spengler of Initiative. Three of the four agencies represented are DDS clients.

Every year at the breakfast, several controversial topics dominate the discussion. A major topic discussed at this year’s event was the shift to C3 ratings, which cover commercial viewing during the "live" broadcast plus three days of DVR-aided viewing. Bill Koenigsberg stated that the buying community pushed the selling community to use untested methodology. He claimed that the industry switched to new measuring methodology before all the implications were understood, and that C3 ratings have had an adverse effect on prices in the short term.

When asked what kept them awake at night, three of the five panelists replied that it was finding, training and keeping talented staff.

The need for industry standards was also discussed. Jon Mandel noted that lack of agreement on standards is hampering progress in the media industry. Referring to the C3 currency, Mandel explained that it could evolve and become more insightful, but looking for further agreement among all parties is “more difficult than herding cats.” Explicit standards are also vital in enabling electronic transactions among media systems.