BT Vision signs Xbox as first advertiser for VoD matches

by Colin Grimshaw, Media Week 14-Aug-07

BT Vision has signed up Xbox as its first advertiser and is seeking a sponsor for its time-delayed coverage of the Barclays Premier League, which takes in 242 games over the season.

The ad deal, through Universal McCann, for Xbox Halo 3, sees two
60-second spots airing in each of the six Premier League games available
to view via video on demand, from 10pm after the final whistle, for

seven weeks in August and September. The campaign is timed to coincide

with the launch of Xbox Halo 3 on 26 September.

A sponsor is being sought for the VoD football coverage in a season-long
deal. BT Vision is marketing the games in a monthly subscription for
£4 a month, or £12 a month, including the live Premier
League games broadcast by Setanta on the Freeview platform, which is
also available on BT Vision.

Ad sales efforts are led by interactive and commercial media director
Antony Carbonari who joined in April 2006 from Disney where he was
director of broadband services.

He is supported by ad sales manager Jeremy Rosenberg, who was formerly
head of online sales and sponsorship at ITV.

Carbonari has identified three methods of exploiting the commercial
opportunities on BT Vision. The first is interactive red button ad
campaigns covering the VoD and Freeview TV content. Carbonari claimed BT
Vision's interactive connectivity, through broadband, was faster than,
for example, Sky, allowing viewers speedier access to the ads and then
back to the programming.

The second opportunity lies in targeted TV spots around VoD content. BT
Vision hopes to have an automated ad management service in place during
2008 that will allow ads to be served to specific demographic groups.
Where these ads will be placed within the content has yet to be
decided.

The third opportunity is a web browser ad service using Microsoft Media
Room's Tasman application, which is expected to come on board in the
last quarter of this year.