BlackArrow Unveils New Tools to Manage Ad Placement with On-Demand Video

By Derrick on November 28, 2008 10:35 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

BlackArrow, the independent provider of multiplatform advertising systems for viewer-controlled video, today announced BlackArrow AdMaps, a sophisticated toolset that enables content providers and distributors to easily define and manage ad avails in and around video content. The AdMap suite extends BlackArrow's advertising system by introducing tools to manage ad-placement opportunities for programming delivered over broadband and SCTE 130-5 compliant video on demand (VOD) environments. AdMaps provide a time-saving workflow to create new advertising inventory, integrate new ad formats easily and updates ad-sales models quickly all without requiring changes to the existing infrastructure or media player code.

The new suite consists of the AdMap Builder tool to create and manage AdMaps, AdMap Server to deliver the right AdMap for the viewer and, for broadband deployments, a software development kit (SDK) to render AdMaps in common broadband players.

The lack of tools to easily define and manage rules for ad-placement opportunities in and around video is proving to be a major bottleneck for ad-supported business models, said Chris Hock, senior vice president, product management at BlackArrow. With ad strategies undergoing rapid-fire change, programmers and distributors are wanting to experiment safely in a way that maximizes revenues, without jeopardizing innovation or user experience. BlackArrow's AdMaps suite addresses this need head-on with practical conventions for creating new ad avails and managing ad-insertion opportunities for viewer-controlled video platforms.

AdMap Builder is a rich Internet application (RIA) that enables users to create an unlimited combination of permissible ad types, durations and other insertion rules. All user-defined ad-insertion points are displayed graphically to help clients visualize and package ad inventory effectively across multiple video platforms.

AdMap Server selects from among multiple AdMaps to return the best fit based on viewer data as well as targeting criteria such as audience demographics, content genre and playout environment before fulfilling each request with the most relevant ad, or series of ads, as defined by the AdMap. AdMap Server conforms to SCTE 130-5 standards for a placement opportunity information service (POIS) in VOD environments, enabling rapid deployment and product interoperability with other SCTE-130 compliant vendors. For broadband distribution, AdMaps are stored as standard SMIL files, which can be read easily by leading media players from Adobe, Move Networks and other providers using the enhanced BlackArrow Player Framework.