Time Warner Cable plans to roll out BlackArrow's Advanced Advertising System across its national footprint to deliver real-time, dynamic ad insertion for video-on-demand content, a key step toward enabling Canoe Ventures' plans to deliver VOD ads to cable users across the U.S.
The cable operator declined to provide details on where and when it expects to deploy the VOD dynamic ad insertion system. "It would be premature to discuss further details," a spokeswoman said.
Comcast and Rogers Communications are among the other MSOs that have deployed the BlackArrow system.
The BlackArrow system, Time Warner Cable said, will provide one of "the critical cornerstones that are essential to creating a nationwide footprint of dynamic on-demand ads." In addition, TWC said it will be able to use the BlackArrow ad-insertion system to increase the availability of commercial inventory on a local and regional level.
"The time is right to bring the benefits of cable on-demand advertising to the national marketplace," Joan Gillman, president of Time Warner Cable Media, said in a statement. "Our partnership with BlackArrow will lay the foundation for new on-demand business and advertising models, and ultimately we expect that this will extend across a broad spectrum of television distribution platforms and devices."
Canoe, owned by Comcast, TWC and the four other largest U.S. cable operators, is developing a dynamic ad-insertion VOD service that will span multiple operators. The venture shut down its interactive TV operations earlier this year to focus exclusive on VOD ads.
Time Warner Cable is the first cable system operator that will deploy the BlackArrow Ad Router to redirect ad requests to third-party advertising-decision services for real-time decisioning and fulfillment. The MSO is using SCTE 130-compliant elements of the BlackArrow system to enable the collection of return-path data needed to measure ad delivery and effectiveness.
Time Warner Cable took an equity stake in BlackArrow last year, and Gillman is a member of BlackArrow's board of directors.
"Time Warner Cable has long been recognized as a leader in launching advanced advertising solutions across the pay-TV landscape," BlackArrow CEO Dean Denhart said in a statement. "We're proud to be their partner as they continue to drive the industry forward by optimizing the potential of this dynamic new ad environment."
In addition to TWC, investors in San Jose, Calif.-based BlackArrow include Comcast, Cisco Systems, Motorola Mobility, Intel and NDS Group (which is in the process of being acquired by Cisco).
