Virgin Media rolls out on-demand TV advertising

Virgin Media is launching dynamic advertising on its on-demand TV platform.

Britains next top model
Britains Next Top Model

Ads from brands including L’Oreal, Sony Ericsson, Kellogg’s and Microsoft, will appear around on demand content from the LIVING, Virgin1 and Bravo channels.

Thirty second pre-roll and post-roll ads will be matched to the programme being watched with, for instance, hair care ads shown before Britain’s Next Top Model or a supermarket campaign after Restaurant in our Living Room.

The advertising will roll-out across Virgin Media’s on demand TV service beginning with 300,000 homes from this month. The company currently claims to have an on demand presence in 3.7 million households,

Cindy Rose, executive director of TV at Virgin Media, says “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.”

The broadcaster held a three month trial earlier this year in 100,000 homes and found a positive viewer reaction to on demand advertising.

More than half of those taking part in the trial were positive about advertising when watching on demand content from commercial providers. 65% preferred to see ads beforehand with ads lasting 30 seconds the most popular format. Respondents also favoured ads relevant to the programme being watched.

James Wildman, managing director of sales house ids says: “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.”

Virgin Media has also just announced a tie-up with digital video recorder manufacturer TiVo for the latter to develop Virgin Media’s next generation TV platform.

Virgin Media will become the exclusive distributor of TiVo services and technology in the UK.