Canoe Cruises to 2.56B VOD Ad Impressions in Q1

Canoe, the MSO-backed advanced advertising venture, said its dynamic VOD ad insertion platform served up 2.56 billion ads in the first quarter of 2015, soundly beating the mere 803.84 million it pumped out in the year-ago quarter, and just ahead of the 2.52 billion it delivered in Q4 2014.

The Q1 total, which reflects the venture’s broader rollout with MSO partners and with a bigger group of programmers, puts Canoe on pace for 10.24 billion viewed ad impressions for all of 2015 and crush the 6.3 billion viewed ad impressions it served up for all of 2014.

In its VOD Viewed Ad Impression 2015 Q1 Report, Canoe said the vast majority of ads were mid-rolls (2.1 billion), versus 273.1 million pre-rolls and 94.73 million post-rolls (see chart above). During the quarter, ad impressions were weighted the weekends -- Saturdays (439M ads) and Sundays (432.1M ads).

Canoe ran 912 VOD ad campaigns in the quarter – 86% were for external ad client campaigns, while the rest were for network tune-ins. That’s up from 864 campaigns in the fourth quarter of 2014, which was comprised of 78% external client ad campaigns.

Canoe, a J.V. of Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Bright House Networks, said its DAI-VOD footprint currently covers 35 million-plus homes in over 130 MDAs.