C&W And Two Way TV Develop Interactive Advertising Service
Cable & Wireless Communications’ (CWC) digital television service will offer interactive advertising from early next year in a system developed by interactive TV games company, Two Way TV. CWC’s digital cable TV service, which launched at the beginning of this month (see CWC Offers ‘More Than Just TV’ In £20m DTV Campaign), already features a number of interactive services, including email, banking and games, but does not currently carry interactive advertisements.
The Two Way TV technology will allow advertisers to offer a range of options, including the transfer of customer information, ordering, entering competitions, booking sales calls and even purchasing goods directly through the television.
Says David Hughes, head of marketing at Two Way TV: “Creatively there will be a lot of flexibility. It is important that having invested a lot of money in an ad that advertisers can differentiate themselves further with their interactivity, rather than all having to subscribe to the same text box overlays.” Graeme Stanley, director of consumer media at CWC, adds: “This will allow advertisers to develop one-to-one relationships with viewers. This service will be a must not only for traditional advertisers, but for any brand looking to build a relationship with their TV audience.”
Pointing to the development of interactive TV advertising in the UK, Ian Johnson, marketing manager of interactive advertising at Two Way TV, says: “Our technology can actually manage the production, scheduling and broadcast, in real-time, of interactive applications to any digital set-top-box environment, whether cable, terrestrial or satellite. We are delighted to be helping Cable & Wireless be first to market with interactive advertising, but we are aware that advertisers don’t buy platforms, they buy channels. Accordingly we intend to roll this service out onto other platforms as soon as possible so that advertisers can deliver the same message wherever their ads go in digital.”
CWC holds a 50.1% stake in Two Way TV (see C&W Communications Takes Stake In Two Way TV); the other investors are Ladbrokes and US venture capital group Vencom.
Two Way TV: 0181 742 2422 Cable & Wireless Communications: 0171 674 5440