--Signs Agreement to Offer Paradox Studios Games on HeadendWare
At the IBC show in Amsterdam last week, Los Gatos, Calif.-based ICTV (note: the company is best known for its HeadendWare platform, which uses headend-based processing to deliver complex interactive applications, including apps with full-motion video and high-quality audio, to thin-client set-top boxes) revealed that it is collaborating with Packet Vision, a company that has developed an addressable IPTV advertising delivery platform, to enable "personalized" TV advertising that is targeted, auditable and interactive. The agreement between the companies will see them offering a joint solution which they say will allow IPTV providers to increase revenues by offering advertisers the ability to produce and deliver personalized interactive spots and to target those spots based on such factors as demographics, preferences and purchasing histories. According to the companies, the combination of HeadendWare's ability to convert standard Web content into interactive MPEG streams and Packet Vision's targeting engines will allow advertisers to minimize creative costs and maximize delivery efficiency: HeadendWare's support for standard PC, Web and Java tools will allow advertisers to create personalized advertisements that are rendered in digital video and then spliced into individual subscribers' targeted streams by Packet Vision. The HeadendWare platform will enable a "telescoping" environment in which consumers will be able to click on individual ads to request additional information, watch a demo or make a purchase. The companies say that an added benefit of such interactive ads is that they will allow advertisers to track consumer interactions in more detail, and thus improve the efficiency with which consumers can be targeted. "Advertisers want to deliver the right message to the right viewer at the right time and to move consumers toward action," ICTV president and CEO, Jeff Miller, said in a prepared statement. "Our joint agreement with Packet Vision will enable IPTV operators to provide opportunities for advertisers to use Web tools, technologies and talent to mass-customize ad content and deliver the best ad to each viewer."
ICTV also used the occasion of the IBC to announce that it has signed an agreement with Indian game developer, Paradox Studios, under which the latter's portfolio of Web-based multiplayer games will be offered on the HeadendWare platform (note: HeadendWare currently offers around 40 interactive content applications). "Paradox has a compelling array of Web-based interactive multiplayer games that can be deployed seamlessly on our platform," ICTV's Miller said in a prepared statement. "Our ability to bring their content to any broadband provider, regardless of their set-top box, will enable our customers with yet another way to enhance the ITV line-ups they provide to their subscribers."
