Cablevision to Offer 24-Hour VOD Pre-Roll Ad-Insertion Capabilities

New York-area MSO, Cablevision, said Wednesday that it will begin offering same-day video-on-demand ad insertion across its entire service area later this summer, allowing advertisers to initiate a campaign or swap out existing commercials within a 24-hour period of notification. The company--which also announced that it will provide telescoping (i.e. the ability to click from a commercial to additional advertiser information) across its entire service area later this summer--claims that its new ad insertion offering represents the largest deployment of VOD advertising in a single market.

According to Cablevision, advertisers will be able to place 15- or 30-second pre-roll spots before select VOD content, and will be able to direct relevant advertising messages to specific viewer segments based on the VOD content they choose. Cablevision's VOD service currently offers over 6,000 titles--several thousand of which are free-to-view--and the company claims that its 24-hour turnaround for inserting new ads into VOD content is the shortest in the industry. It says that 24-hour VOD ad insertion will be offered on its interactive dedicated VOD channels for Optimum Homes, Optimum Autos, Travel, Health and Electronics, as well as on other content to which it has the right to insert ads. "The advertising community has been seeking a vehicle that provides greater flexibility and mid-stream course changes in relation to opportunities and market conditions that arise," David Kline, president and COO of Cablevision's advertising sales arm, Rainbow Advertising Sales, said in a prepared statement. "We believe this new insertion service is the answer to the industry's ad targeting and turnaround needs."

Cablevision bills its branded VOD channels as providing advertisers with the ability to "deeply engage" consumers via long-form content, polling, photos, RFI capabilities, and a feature called "Talk to Agent" that allows consumers to request an immediate call from an advertiser's customer service department. According to the MSO, Disney Parks, the US Navy and Newsday are the first brands to take advantage of its platform's telescoping capabilities.