Content marketing has always been a part of advertising, but the big difference is that content is finally accountable, says Sean Black, Managing Partner and Group Digital Director at MediaCom, during an interview for Beet.TV with Paul Kontonis, SVP Strategy & Sales at Collective Digital Studio.

“Content marketing has always been around but it’s getting more attention, and now we are just adding a layer of accountbaility,” he explains. “Look at orginal daytime shows. Brands were weaving themselves into content. Now we can track. We can take that content and do it in a way that’s engaging and trackable. We have the analytics to say what is engaging, what is the time spent, the unique views.”

One of the biggest challenges in reaching consumers with branded content is distributing it, given Facebook’s crackdown on serving up posts, he adds. Nonetheless, more brands are investing in content production and aligning the content with KPIs.

“The video needs to be aligned to the business goal,” Black says.

Black was a panelist at the Beet.TV Content Marketing Summit held at the New York offices of Mindshare this week. You can find more videos from that event here.