Microsoft Corp. last week offered first glimpse of its Mediaroom’s integrated advanced media platform technologies for Internet Protocol TV providers at the IBC2008 conference held at the Amsterdam RAI conference center, which the company said will be ready for AT&T and other Telco customers to roll out in 2009.
The new adjunct method permits IPTV providers to deliver targeted and measurable advertisement insertion for Mediaroom service from one all-inclusive platform. This new offering will allow service providers to take advantage of functional flexibility and simplification with an end-to-end solution that enables integrated, cross-platform advertisement deployments.
The new system, announced last week will be released next year, will be added to the company’s platform for Internet-delivered television, Mediaroom, which is currently used by 14 telecom-service providers globally and is being tested by several others.
“It will allow Mediaroom service providers…offer [advertisers] all the benefits of the Web in terms of targeting, measurability and interactivity from one comprehensive platform,” said Terri Richardson, a marketing manager responsible for the Mediaroom Advertising Platform.
According to Microsoft, its plan for increasing the value of Mediaroom IPTV contains three parts: increase advertising opportunities, make it easier for IPTV networks to port shows to the platform, and make IPTV more interactive.
The enhanced Mediaroom platform will let service providers using the service offer targeted, interactive advertising spots and have access to better data in order to target ads to specific groups. Microsoft did not provide any details on how that would be possible, but claimed more would be coming soon.
Microsoft unveiled the Protected Broadcast Driver Architecture or PBDA, its new universal platform for broadcast TV on the PC. The platform would enable the integration of virtually any free or premium TV service into Windows Media Center while satisfying the TV industry’s requirements for strong content protection in the case of pay TV.
Geoff Robertson, general manager for Windows Media Center at Microsoft, said, “This is a major milestone for us and our partners as we continue our efforts to deliver the highest-quality, personalized TV-watching experiences available to people everywhere.”
The improved system now offers interactivity; audience addressability and true measurement found in online advertising models can be applied to the world of IP-powered television, opening new revenue opportunities for broadband service providers and more effective campaigns for advertisers. The Mediaroom Advertising Platform will support advertisement insertion into all TV content formats, including traditional linear television, video on demand (VOD), third-party interactive TV applications, as well as service-provider-owned assets including the electronic program guide.
Because content is delivered over a two-way Internet connection, ads can also be interactive, Richardson said.
The technology behind Mediaroom Advertising comes from Navic Networks; a Waltham, Mass., company Microsoft bought in June.
David Graves, a veteran media executive and Forrester Research analyst, said advertisers have long complained they do not know what they are paying for when they buy traditional television ads. Audience is usually extrapolated from viewer-ship surveys that rely on sample audiences that are orders of magnitude smaller.
Internet protocol television, or IPTV, is delivered to a set-top box so service providers can know precisely what homes an ad played in.
Integrated with information such as purchase behavior associated with an address from companies such as Experian credit-reporting service, advertisers can devise a much clearer picture of the households viewing an ad, which means geographically targeted ads for the new restaurant that just opened in your neighborhood, or eventually ads designed to appeal to an individual’s tastes.
“I think that the future of television is basically like what we said the future of the Internet was going to be: increasingly targeted ads,” Graves said.
In addition to make switching from one platform to another easier, Microsoft started the Mediaroom Migration program, which should give IPTV providers the tools they need to switch. According to Microsoft, before those providers switch, it will provide them with business and technical workshops to review set-top box portability, network compatibility, and audio-visual interoperability.
The advertising system runs on top of Microsoft’s core IPTV platform, and consists of two main pieces: a campaign manager to manage and schedule ad inventory; and a decision-making engine that places ads based on business rules, such as an individual subscriber’s demographic or behavioral information.
“The new advertising platform opens up new prospect and opportunity for broadband service providers deploying Microsoft Mediaroom, and positions them well for the quickly evolving world of digital advertising,” said Enrique Rodriguez, corporate vice president of the Connected Television Division at Microsoft. “With this offering, our customers will have a solution that delivers greater value to both advertisers and viewers through relevance and measurability, further capitalizing on the benefits of a connected TV environment.”
“Microsoft’s new system provides the answer to what advertisers have been calling for from TV service providers for years: accountability, in-depth targeting and better engagement with consumers,” said Nick Brien, President and CEO of Mediabrands, Interpublic Group of Companies. “The targeting and measurement capabilities of the Mediaroom Advertising Platform make it simple for advertisers and their agencies to reach appropriate consumer audiences and adjust television advertising campaigns on the fly in response to consumer behaviors.”
The IPTV advertising system incorporates pieces from two recent Microsoft acquisitions, including aQuantive’ Atlas AdManager and Atlas Media Console and Navic Networks’ interactive TV and measurement technologies.
The cable industry also is accelerating its advanced-advertising efforts, primarily through Canoe Ventures, a service bureau backed by the six largest MSOs.
In a separate communiqué, Microsoft announced the release of an interactive TV application, developed for the BBC with Irish firm Emuse Technologies, as an example of the capabilities of the IPTV software.
The suite of services includes a social networking-on-TV application, showing broadcaster’s original content, including news, sports and weather could look in the future, and also lets viewers recommend and share programs with friends through the TV via Windows Live services that exist online and on the TV.
Microsoft Mediaroom customers include AT&T, British Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, Swisscom and Reliance Communications Ltd. in India, which together have connected more than 1.5 million TV subscriber homes to date.