San Jose, Calif., September 29, 2010 – BlackArrow, a leading worldwide provider of advanced advertising solutions for New Television platforms, today announced the BlackArrow Advanced Advertising System has been selected by Rainbow Media Holdings for a multiphase trial of dynamic video-on-demand (VoD) advertising, currently underway. Rainbow Media owns and operates some of the world’s most popular and award-winning entertainment brands, including AMC, IFC, Sundance Channel, WE tv and Wedding Central.
Using the BlackArrow System, Rainbow is looking at new ways that its award-winning, premium content, such as AMC’s Mad Men, can be leveraged in a VoD environment to enable engaging television advertising experiences. The trial is designed to determine how Rainbow can work across its multiple distribution partners to implement and operationalize, at scale, critical aspects of dynamic, addressable VoD advertising. Among the capabilities being explored during the multiphase trial are on-demand campaign management; creative rotation of inventory; real-time ad decisioning and campaign selection based on content targeting, viewed daypart, anonymous demographic data and other factors; and impression-based reporting.
"Given the dramatic increase in subscribers viewing on-demand programming, we are looking at ways to provide our advertisers with additional vehicles for building brands and driving purchases in this medium," said Dave Evans, SVP Broadband, Rainbow Media. "BlackArrow has been an important partner in our process, as we evaluate new ways to create incremental value for advertisers and increase the availability of premium on-demand programming for our viewers."
"The ability of networks and operators to monetize on-demand television programming will have a direct effect on the value of VoD as an advertising medium," said Nick Troiano, president of BlackArrow. "As a leading content innovator, Rainbow Media is putting into practice addressable, measureable advertising opportunities that extend the value of premium content – while bringing advertisers and on-demand viewers together in an engaging TV environment."
About The BlackArrow Advanced Advertising System
The BlackArrow Advanced Advertising System is designed to address the technological complexities and business issues within on-demand advertising environments. The BlackArrow Sales Suite enables television ad-sales organizations to define, manage and fulfill multiplatform, multioperator advertising campaigns to reach audiences who increasingly embrace time-shifted media on their televisions, computers and mobile phones. For content distributors, the BlackArrow Decision Suite offers powerful ad decision logic and proven system interoperability to deploy dynamic ad insertion rapidly in VOD and other television environments.
About Rainbow Media Holdings LLC
Rainbow Media Holdings LLC is a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC). Rainbow Media owns and operates some of the world’s most popular and award-winning entertainment brands, including AMC, IFC, Sundance Channel, WE tv, Wedding Central and IFC Entertainment (IFC Center, IFC Films, IFC In Theaters, IFC Midnight and IFC Productions). Additional information about Rainbow Media’s multiplatform brands is available at www.rainbow-media.com.
About BlackArrow, Inc.
BlackArrow is a leading worldwide provider of advanced advertising technology for New Television platforms. The company’s multiplatform advertising system is designed specifically for video content distributed over any on-demand platform, enabling networks and content distributors to maximize advertising revenues. BlackArrow is privately held, and backed by Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), Comcast Interactive Capital, Intel Capital (NASDAQ: INTC), Mayfield Fund, NDS Group, LTD. and Polaris Venture Partners. The company has offices in New York City and San Jose, Calif. http://www.blackarrow.tv