Comcast, Nielsen Test New Ad Product for VOD

2 Dec, 2013 By: Chris Tribbey

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Comcast has partnered with Nielsen to test a new ad strategy, one that will see a full load of advertisements inserted into the VOD offering of every episode of a current series’ season.

With close to 200 full TV series offered on Comcast’s VOD platform, Comcast will use Nielsen’s ad measurement system to get commercial ratings credit for the views of all prior episodes, instead of only those viewed on VOD three days after their initial air date.

“By combining Comcast technology and Nielsen measurement capabilities, ODCR [On Demand Commercial Ratings] will enable us to insert the full … ad load not only into the most recent TV episode, but into every prior episode of a series’ on-demand programming for three days after the live airing,” Matt Strauss, SVP and GM of video services for Comcast, wrote in a blog post. “We are currently testing this capability with NBC Universal and plan to begin working with other major broadcast networks soon.”

Strauss offered the example of the USA Network series “Psych,” which includes the same advertising on VOD that was included during the initial broadcast, but only for three days after the first airing. The new ad strategy would show those ads for every VOD episode of the current season.

“And this means the programmer — in this case USA Network — could receive … advertising credit for viewers who are watching any episode, not just the most recent one,” Strauss wrote. “Advertisers in the most recent episode of ‘Psych’ will also benefit from reaching incremental viewers who may not have watched the most recent episode during the three-day window.”

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