U.K.'s Virgin Media Kicks Off VOD Ad Trial
Three-Month Trial Will Insert Ads Before and After On-Demand Content
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 10/13/2008 10:43:00 AM
British cable operator Virgin Media this week will launch a three-month dynamic advertising trial on its video-on-demand service in north London that’s designed to test response to different ad lengths and weekly updated spots.
Advertisers participating in the trial, which include Kellogg’s, General Motors and Royal Mail, will have their ads inserted before and after selected on-demand programs from Virgin Media TV, Channel 4 and Warner TV. The ads will be targeted by matching advertisers with program genres.
Virgin Media will use SeaChange International’s AdPulse On Demand ad-insertion system. The operator also is working with SeaChange’s On Demand Group subsidiary for content aggregation and both Rentrak and ODG to analyze performance and viewing behavior during the trial.
The operator will test a range of ad lengths, including single 30-second pre-rolls, consecutive pre-rolls and end-rolls, and plans to update campaigns weekly.
Virgin Media, which has 3.5 million TV subscribers, provides 4,600 hours of VOD content. The company said it served 45 million views in August, up about 33% from 34 million views in January.
