Virgin Media Launches First On-demand TV Ad Trial
Virgin Media today announced the first three-month advertising trial on its on-demand TV platform, taking place across north London from this week.
Royal Mail, John Lewis, Kelloggs and a number of other brands are set to have their adverts broadcast around selected on-demand programmes from Virgin Media TV, Channel 4 and Warner TV.
The technology used by Virgin inserts ads before and after on-demand content in real time, allowing campaigns to be up-to-date and specific to the time of day or region.
Virgin’s trial plans to match ads to programme genres, update campaigns weekly and test a range of ad lengths, including single 30 second pre-rolls, consecutive pre-rolls and end rolls.
However, the number of ads will be capped and there will be a limit on the volume of programmes that will have ads placed around them.
Mark Schweitzer, chief commercial officer at Virgin Media, said: “Virgin Media has pioneered on demand TV in the UK and we continue to innovate with new content, interactivity and functionality.”
He added: “As consumer usage of on demand continues to build, this trial will help us explore the best ways to reach a large and growing audience with engaging and relevant advertising.”
Virgin Media is working with On Demand Group (ODG) and Rentrak Corporation to measure content performance throughout the trial, in an attempt to understand the impact of on demand advertising on viewer behaviour.
Virgin Media: www.virginmedia.com