SeaChange Deploys in the UK

Virgin Media has announced the first dynamic advertising trial on its on-demand TV platform. Brands including Kellogg's, John Lewis and Royal Mail will have their ads broadcast around selected on-demand programs from Virgin Media TV, Channel 4 and Warner TV. The three-month trial will take place across north London from this week.

The ad insertion technology, SeaChange's AdPulse On Demand system, is designed to insert ads before and after on-demand content in real time, allowing campaigns to be kept up-to-date and specific to time of day or region. Virgin Media's trial will match ads to program genres, test a range of ad lengths, including single 30-second pre-rolls, consecutive pre-rolls and end rolls, and update campaigns weekly. The number of ads will be capped, and there will be a limit on the volume of programs that will have ads placed around them.

Virgin Media is also working with On Demand Group (ODG) for content aggregation and both Rentrak Corp. and ODG to measure content performance throughout the trial and better understand the impact of on-demand advertising on viewer behavior.