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Video-on-demand server and software supplier SeaChange International and VOD programming distributor TVN Entertainment have formed a joint initiative to make it easier to dynamically insert ads into VOD content.
The companies will begin testing and integration of TVN’s ADONISS platform with SeaChange’s AdPulse On Demand systems to place ads, as marked in accordance with the SCTE-35 technical standard, into on-demand program streams on the fly. This service will be available to any of TVN’s over 200 VOD content partners, including its roughly 75 broadcast and cable network customers.
Being able to place more fresh and relevant commercials into on-demand content has long been a desire of both cable operators and programmers, and it has become a more pressing issue as more primetime content makes it way onto the on-demand platform.
“What we’re doing is dropping markers into the programs that act as a flag for the VOD server, and the metadata instructs the VOD server which ads to play,” said TVN president and COO Doug Sylvester in an interview at the Cable Show in Washington. “As other deployments roll out, we can perform similar integrations.”
While the initial focus in dynamic VOD ads is on national avails, TVN expects to eventually bring similar capability to local spots, added Sylvester.
The integration with SeaChange will enable TVN to begin volume distribution of ad-insertable digital content files to its cable operator customers. TVN has created an automated service that allows content with “marked” insertion points to be distributed and seamlessly ingested by cable operator customers who have deployed SeaChange’s AdPulse dynamic VOD ad insertion software. Operators can sell ads for the available positions within the program, and use AdPulse to insert individually targeted ads in every on-demand session, in addition to enabling the traditional bookend ad placements.
“We will demonstrate conclusively that every VOD asset can be optimized for targeted messaging from end-to-end,” added Alan Hoff, vice president of product marketing for SeaChange, in a statement. “Our collaboration with TVN underscores how television’s stakeholders can benefit from vendor attention to industry standards to monetize the growing on-demand tier for high-quality and highly relevant advertising.”
