feature iptv
Targeted
advertising
Addressable advertising offers telcos a real opportunity argues John
Reister - chief architect, IPTV, BigBand Networks.
T
he success of IPTV service enabling advertisers to send specific subscribers or set-top boxes. Typically,
providers in growing and messages to the target audiences. programmes are sent to video service
sustaining profitable IPTV Advertisers can use this capability to offices before being processed and
deployments will largely increase ad effectiveness and real-time distributed to subscribers.
depend on their advertising feedback on ad campaigns. For their In the centralised model, all
strategies. Late arrivals at the part, telco operators will enjoy the individual programme streams are
video party, telcos cannot charge benefit of being able to generate processed in the central office or at
substantially higher monthly higher average revenue per user and associated local offices. As a result, the
subscription fees and still capture consequently being able to grow and transportation of processed content
market share from cable and satellite. sustain the IPTV subscriber base. across the video delivery process can
Targeted advertising, however,
Above: John Reister,
chief architect, IPTV,
As Laura Desmond, CEO, The overload the network during peak
offers them the opportunity to turbo-
BigBand Networks.
Americas at Starcom MediaVest Group, periods or when scaling to large
charge revenue streams by leveraging explained: “Addressable advertising numbers of subscribers.
their IP-based networks to deliver gets us closer to the power of mass This approach involves upgrading
more personalised ads. And all the personalisation by delivering highly the network transport infrastructure
evidence suggests that this is what relevant brand messages to engaged and is difficult to scale, especially as
television viewers are looking for. consumers and this is the ideal the amount of available programme
An ongoing study by Comcast connection in a world of scarce channels increases. Ultimately, this
Spotlight, the ad sales division of consumer attention.” model fails to leverage the carriers’
Comcast Cable, and media agency network ownership to deliver a
Starcom MediaVest Group, seeks to The right infrastructure superior service or differentiated
illustrate the effect of addressable advertising package.
advertising through increased ad Before deploying targeted advertising, The customer premises model calls
relevance & advertiser accountability. telcos need to consider their choice of for higher performance and more
Comcast delivered ads across eight delivery mechanism. There are three expensive devices in the customer
of its cable networks designed to principal models to choose from: premises supporting ad insertion. In
target households based on centralised, customer premises and addition to the cost of incorporating
characteristics specified by a range of intelligent network edge. such intelligence in STBs, scalability
advertisers, including General Motors, • Centralised – operators process becomes a concern as operators have
Discover Card, Hallmark, Kraft, Mars individual insertions for all streams at to manage the process of downloading
and Procter & Gamble. The study found the network head-end and deliver video thousands of ads to hundreds of
that households served targeted ads in content across the network from there. thousands of IPTV STBs, with frequent
commercial breaks were less likely to • Customer premises – programme updates. STBs may also need replacing
change channels, tuning away 38% streams and ads are sent to a set-top as new types of advertising arise.
less of the time than homes that box at the customer site which splices The network-based intelligent edge
received non-addressable advertising. the ads and distributes to consumers. approach by contrast allows telcos to
The results demonstrate just how • Intelligent network edge – a maximise the utilisation of their network
powerful addressable advertising can distributed network-based ad insertion and maximise services. Operators can
be, offering telcos the opportunity to system that places different ads into provide mechanisms to build specific
enhance IPTV revenue streams by the same media slot for individual IPTV geographic and demographic rules for
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24 l ibe l January/February 2009 l www.ibeweb.com
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