Five Joins Zip TV For Interactive Advertising
Interactive advertising channel Zip TV has secured Five as the latest commercial broadcaster to use its services, which allow brands to run interactive campaigns across multiple channels without changing the format or design of commercials.
The deal follows an identical agreement between Zip and IDS earlier this year and allows viewers to jump from Five’s digital broadcasts into the Zip TV channel, which houses the various interactive elements of advertising campaigns (see IDS Signs With Zip For Cross Network Interactive Ads).
Damon Letzer, interactive business controller at Five claims the deal with Zip is an essential part of the broadcaster’s interactive strategy. He said: “We want to offer advertisers more than the customary interactive advert. We will be looking at exploiting further opportunities to interact with the viewer and Zip allows us the creative breadth and bandwidth to examine this new potential.”
Five announced its first interactive content last month, giving advertisers interactive options for campaigns viewed through the channel’s digital satellite feed. The move pre-empted interactive support for Five’s latest reality-TV programme, The Farm, and opened the broadcaster’s airspace for interactive ads to more than seven million satellite households (see Five To Offer Advertisers Interactive Elements).
Zip TV allows advertisers to plan campaigns across the channels signed to the company, including IDS-managed Flextech, Channel 4 and Five. Zip effectively side-steps confusion over conflicting interactive technologies by unifying campaigns in the common Zip TV channel, accessible by all partners. The result is increased efficiency and easier collation of viewer data.
The Channel has already won the support of 11 major advertisers, allowing companies to take an active role in the development of its systems, as well as sharing research and data. Zip TV consortium members include Reckitt Benckiser, Honda, Orange, P&G, Unilever, BT, COI, and Gillette and Woolworths.
The use of interactive television advertising has seen a surge in popularity in recent months, with several companies making heavy investment in the medium. Sky recently extended its range of interactive enabled channels, allowing advertisers to place adverts on The History Channel and The Biography Channel, in addition to Sky One, Sky News, Sky Sports and Sky Movies (see Sky Expands Interactive Advertising Portfolio).
The broadcaster has also attempted to foster interest in the medium by offering a £250,000 jackpot prize to the creators of the most innovative and imaginative interactive advertisements in a promotion dubbed Out of the Box (see Sky Boosts iTV Advertising With £250k Prize).
Five: 020 7550 5555 www.five.tv Zip TV: 0207 101 7360 www.ziptelevision.com
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