SeaChange International, Inc. announced a new solution to capture advertising opportunities in on-demand television including targeted advertising delivery with unprecedented "ZIP-plus-four" precision.

Available this summer, the SeaChange on-demand advertising solution lets network operators begin inserting advertisements into individual on-demand streams. The solution integrates with existing video-on-demand systems, initially enabling ad insertions at the beginning and end of streamed programs. It also provides the strategic advantage of in-depth reporting on aggregate settop activity – view, rewind, pause, fast-forward – during ads. It includes stream splicing and execution automation to ensure that ads are inserted with high-quality video and audio and are measured with atomic precision.

"Twenty-million homes have access to on-demand television and this year they'll request over one billion streams," said James Kelso, vice president/general manager of broadband systems, SeaChange. "This SeaChange solution provides all of the control and automation that operators need to begin harvesting the promise of VOD advertising."

Starting out simply
Today, SeaChange video-on-demand system deployments alone serve nearly 100 million subscriber requests for on-demand programs every month, much of which is available for free from local, national and niche sources. While free content is driving on-demand use, SeaChange's on-demand advertising solution sets up strategic ad sponsorship opportunities that can result in new local and national revenue.

Operators can make a simple start in on-demand advertising by enabling their clients to "bookend" VOD programs with ads. For example, including five-second or thirty-second messages from a local marina at the beginning and end of each program in a series of free sailing lessons; or, surrounding cooking programs with grocery store ads; or, cross-promoting operators' live programming that is related to on-demand fare.

Early versions of SeaChange's on-demand advertising solution will enable targeting of viewers at the ZIP-plus-four level. Follow-on versions will take targeting to the household level.

Seamless extension to VOD and advertising operations
SeaChange's on-demand advertising solution dynamically places ads into on-demand programs, distributing orders and aggregating reports across VOD operations. It automatically ingests ads from spot libraries, prepares them for dynamic insertion (including conversion to VOD encode specifications) and orders placement based on time and categories, including program, genre, network/content source, zone or ZIP-plus-four. The solution gives a view of VOD ad inventory, defining breaks and avails for groups of VOD programming and indicates undersold and oversold avails. It also reports VOD trick mode activity during ad viewing, which is tracked independently of VOD program reporting.

SeaChange's on-demand advertising solution is comprised of SeaChange's ad management software, playlist automation service, ad placement service, splicing algorithms and reporting enhancements. The solution provides fully dynamic ad insertion, selecting ads as streams begin to play. All decisions and insertions are unique by stream and the reporting provides full detail of the aggregate behavior for every stream element.

Supporting TV's evolution worldwide
First deployed in 2000 and now supporting over 100 broadband networks delivering video services, SeaChange's VOD servers and software are the platform for the majority of commercial on-demand television services around the world.

In cable advertising, SeaChange Spot Systems are responsible for the insertion of hundreds of thousands of ads each day. With its partners Atlas and Visible World, SeaChange is leveraging its unique expertise to create pragmatic solutions that bring new targeted advertising opportunities to television on-demand. Additionally, its server systems are supporting the storage and delivery of video content for hundreds of broadcasters, studios and television networks around the world.