New media pioneer Deanna Brown, who is running Scripps Networks Digital after stints at CondeNet, AOL and Yahoo, told Inman Real Estate Connect attendees last week that their responsibility is to make sure real estate brokers are “on mobile, the Web, on TV. … Go where the audiences are.”

Brown says a lot of people are still in wait mode, but “ITV is here.” Her biggest network, HGTV, is already conducting a series of ITV tests with telcos and cable companies. Services will be mainstream “in five to seven years,” she predicts. “The question is, what’s the [interface]? Is it the keyboard, or is it the remote control?”

Early results from the ITV trials (and YouTube, too) have already shown some basic truths about the new interactive video medium. “It is a big destination, but the stuff that is getting consumers is actually quite small. You can have the best promotion and it can sit there and never get touched,” she says. At this point, consumers are very good at vetting.” The response by Scripps is to focus more on authenticity and believability. “Consumers need for it to be believable,” she says.

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