BlackArrow has hit the bull’s-eye with today’s news that its VOD ad insertion technology has gone live in Comcast’s Jacksonville, Fla., market.
Comcast wouldn’t say how many homes passed or subscribers it has in its Jacksonville system, but it did say BlackArrow’s Advanced Advertising System is live in the entire market.
With its platform, BlackArrow is able to dynamically encode ads directly into VOD streams in real time, which goes beyond the traditional static ad insertion. In Jacksonville, Comcast is inserting standard 15- and 30-second promotional spots, as well as newly introduced 20-second spots designed to drive tune-in for upcoming shows and specials on PBS Kids Sprout and FearNet in a dynamic environment.
“The ability to update VOD advertising will help us offer feature parity with traditional linear and Internet-based advertising systems,” said Diana Kerekes, vice president of video content for Comcast.
BlackArrow CEO Dean Denhart said the company’s decision suite could be deployed across various network topologies, including distributed, central or edge, and in headends or regional operating centers.
Denhart said BlackArrow is using the SCTE 130 suite of standards for interoperability between the various VOD pumps and multiple back office vendors. Comcast uses VOD gear from Motorola and a back office system from Tandberg in Jacksonville.
BlackArrow uses a network-based approach – as opposed to riding on a set-top box or desktop – to deliver the right VOD ad to the right slot at the correct time, at the point where the content is being streamed to the consumer.
“This first market implementation we’ve done with Comcast in Jacksonville we think is a strong indication that a lot of technical and procedural challenges are being solved,” Denhart said. “They’re solved enough that both Comcast and BlackArrow are confident that we can scale this across the entire cable industry now.”
Comcast, Intel and Cisco are among the investors in privately held BlackArrow.
Denhart said BlackArrow’s leadership team comprises Internet veterans, which has led to an open systems software methodology for advertising solutions that can be used to reach consumers across various on-demand platforms, including cable, telco, mobile and IP over the top.