OpenTV, Sigma Partner for Addressable VOD Ad Placement

Interactive TV and advanced advertising technology provider, OpenTV, and Sigma Systems, a company that specializes in IP service fulfillment solutions, announced Thursday that they are developing an integrated solution that they say will allow TV service providers to use subscriber data for addressable ad placement in video-on-demand environments. The companies say the integrated solution will also work for linear TV.

According to the companies, their joint solution has been integrated in accordance with SCTE-130 guidelines, and brings together OpenTV's campaign-management solutions and Sigma's Subscriber Information Service (designed to enable audience qualification). They say that the solution will allow TV operators' ad-management systems to source subscriber information databases in order to make highly relevant ad-placement decisions that yield "best-fit" ads for subscribers. "As cable MSO's look to derive more revenues from advertisers, being able to address ads and drive new revenue streams through on-demand or linear TV ad insertion has become crucial," Paul Woidke, OpenTV's SVP and general manager of advanced advertising, said in a prepared statement. "By partnering with Sigma Systems, we continue to build out relationships and develop joint solutions that ease--and accelerate--the delivery of advanced forms of advertising." Added Rick Mallon, Sigma's VP of product management: "Sigma Systems continues to lead in the creation of the most robust advanced advertising ecosystem to help TV operators deliver relevant, personalized ads, and better compete against alternative video providers. Driving interoperability among the advanced advertising players simplifies the ad delivery process for operators. By partnering with OpenTV, we have the ability to extend our audience qualification solution to their broad customer base."

OpenTV bills its campaign management solutions (which include the low-end Eclipse and the high-end EclipsePlus, recently selected by Time Warner Cable to manage its advertising sales operations across all its regional operating centers in the continental US--see article posted on itvt.com, May 8th) as enabling cable advertising operations to manage their multichannel ad campaigns more efficiently and with minimal resource requirements. Sigma, meanwhile, bills its Subscriber Information Service as providing a "federated" view of subscribers--including demographic data, services usage and behavioral information--for identifying unique audience qualifiers.