"Positive" results from VOD adverts trial

Virgin Media has described a three-month trial of adverts in video on demand programmes as a success.

Adverts from Kelloggs, John Lewis and Royal Mail were inserted around programmes from Virgin Media Television, Channel 4 and Warner TV. 100,000 homes in north London were covered by the trial.

Survey results released today by Virgin said that 54% of customers affected were "positive about advertising when watching on demand content from commercial providers", with 65% preferring the ads to be shown before programmes.

"There is a clear opportunity for on demand television to deliver relevant ads to an engaged and growing audience," said Mark Schweitzer, Virgin's chief commercial officer. "Our TV customers watched more than half a billion on demand programmes during 2008 and the service’s popularity has grown by over 60 per cent during those 12 months. By continuing to develop our on demand TV platform, we can offer even more great content and choice to viewers, a compelling opportunity for advertisers and the potential for an additional revenue stream to broadcasters."

The trial also indicated a 62% increase in spontaneous brand awareness, with awareness of individual ads and overall campaign recognition both growing by 27%.

"We are thrilled with the results of the trial," said Mark Brandon, director of platforms at Virgin's ids sales house. "On demand clearly provides an actively engaged audience and this engagement is likely to have contributed to an increase in embedded advertising awareness. We look forward to further discussions with advertisers and agencies about our on demand offering in due course."