Canoe, the advanced advertising joint venture, has a fairly deep reach thanks to its ongoing work with its four MSO owners, but a technology integration deal with AdGorilla could help the J.V. to paddle into some shallower waters and work with some independent pay-TV operators as well.
Canoe and Littleton, Colo.-based AdGorilla announced that they have forged a “technical agreement” that will pave the way for AdGorilla to interface its Black Widow Spyder ad platform with Canoe and bring its dynamic ad insertion system for video-on-demand to its clientele, which is made up of small- and mid-sized operators.
Canoe is in the process of getting its platform deployed with a growing number of programmers as well as its MSO backers, which include Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Communications and Cox Communications. Comcast and TWC have deployed Canoe across the board, Bright House Networks has Canoe up and running in markets such as Indianapolis, and Cox is expected to have rollouts underway early into the fourth quarter.
Canoe anticipates that deployments will be done with all four operators by the end of 2014, so the J.V. is already starting to seek ways to grow its footprint beyond them. “That’s where AdGorilla could come in,” Chris Pizzurro, Canoe’s head of product, sales and marketing, said.
He said the technical agreement will enable AdGorilla to hook into Canoe’s systems and bring dynamic ad insertion for VOD to its customers. AdGorilla has the specs to plug into Canoe’s systems, so the heavy lifting will fall on the shoulders of AdGorilla.
“It’s about bringing our capability to their installed base,” Pizzurro said.
By working with the primary company focused on delivering dynamically inserted advertising to VOD programming on consumer devices in the home, AdGorilla can now offer the next level of advanced advertising solutions made possible by our Black Widow Spyder technology to the industry,” said AdGorilla EVP Lenny Melamedas, in a statement. “As we continue to expand our capabilities, presence and customer base, establishing this relationship with an industry leader reinforces our value to our client base.”
AdGorilla’s clients include Cross Mediaworks’ WizeBuys Network, MTA (Matanuska Telephone Association), DTV America Broadcasting, and ICAN (Iowa Cable Advertising Network), among others.
