Channel 4 targets students with niche ads via IPTV

Channel 4 is the first commercial terrestrial broadcaster to launch targeted advertising via one of the UK's main IPTV services, Inuk. Ads will be carried around Channel 4 content on the IPTV network and specifically target students.
From our perspective, it’s an important step and one that the industry has been talking about for some time. Yet it’s still only scratching the surface of what’s possible with targeted advertising. Using students as a test bed is, however, a great way to trial the technology with a very media savvy audience. How will the 80,000 students who subscribe to the network respond? The proof is in the pudding so they say. So let’s see what news emerges from Channel 4 over the coming weeks and months.

ITV takes on advertising challenge with Graffiti Advertising

ITV has made a bold move in developing a new form of unavoidable advertisement, nicknamed “Graffiti Advertising,” that can be embedded in television programmes. But ITV isn’t the only broadcasting industry player to be concerned about declining advertising revenues. In the US, cable networks and DVR makers have also been testing "speed bumps" that show an advertisement during fast-forwarding and billboards that appear on paused screens. Many more service providers and broadcasters must address the challenge of generating advertising revenue in the rapidly changing world of TV.

ITV has identified the ongoing challenges in attracting traditional advertising revenues, citing the rise of personal video recording and the fast-forward button as a significant contributing factor. The broadcaster is now trialing new technology, known as “automatically placed overlay advertising”, which uses complex computer algorithms to find clear space, such as blue sky or blank walls, in video footage in which to display advertising logos or messages.