Virgin rolls out on-demand TV advertising

Virgin Media has launched advertising on its on-demand TV platform.

Ads from brands including L’Oreal, Sony Ericsson, Kelloggs and Microsoft will appear around on-demand Living, Virgin1 and Bravo content from today.

The initial roll-out will see advertising launch on Virgin’s platform in around 300,000 homes this month, before being launched in all 3.7 million Virgin Media households over time.

Cindy Rose, executive director of TV at Virgin, said: “With over 66 million views of on-demand content each month, there is a clear opportunity for on demand television to deliver relevant and effective ads to a growing audience.

“We saw a positive viewer response when we trialled dynamic advertising earlier this year and our customers welcomed campaigns that worked within the context of the programme they’d chosen to watch.”

Virgin plans to match thirty second pre-roll and post-roll ads to the programmes being watched, such as placing hair care product adverts before Britain’s Next Top Model.

The media company conducted a trial earlier this year, which found that 54% of Virgin Media viewers were positive about advertising when watching on-demand content from commercial providers.

Around 65% of trialists preferred to see ads beforehand, with 30 seconds ads proving to be the most popular format.  Respondents also favoured ads relevant to the programme being watched, according to Virgin.

James Wildman, managing director of IDS (Virgin’s advertising sales house) said: “By making the most of the flexibility and power of an on demand TV platform, we can develop creative campaigns and offer a new way to reach an already engaged audience. As we continue to evolve the proposition, we’ll bring greater relevance and more creativity to campaigns with new genre and content-based opportunities.”