Alcatel-Lucent Readies IPTV Ad System for Telcos

Just weeks after "frienemy" Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) unveiled an IPTV advertising system for telcos fueled by billions of dollars of acquisitions, Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) debuted its own approach for equipping telco TV providers to address this increasingly lucrative revenue opportunity.

The two new ad system introductions build on the vendor’s announcement of its Triple Play Service Delivery Architecture (TPSDA) at the NXTCOMM show this past June. At that time, the company announced managed Internet video options for telcos.

Alcatel-Lucent and Microsoft both provide several IPTV products and services to certain operators, such as AT&T Inc. (T). They also compete in the area of IPTV software.

Alcatel-Lucent says the new additions – local ad insertion and the targeted and interactive advertising system – comprise TPSDA 2.0 – and are seen as critical capabilities for telco TV companies looking to swim in strong ad revenue rivers previously dominated by rival cablecos. Telcos have relied primarily on TV pack subscription sales, pay VoD and equipment rental/sale for the bulk of their revenues.

The enhancements to TPSDA offer a more flexible platform for high bandwidth services such as HDTV and an improved user experience  with immediate channel changing. They help facilitate the insertion into TV programs of advertisements that are targeted to specific communities or localities, according to the vendor.

Alcatel-Lucent’s Targeted and Interactive IPTV Advertising Solution lets operators offer advertisers the ability to directly target specific viewers with unique ads that are relevant to each individual viewer. It also allows advertisers to better measure the effectiveness of their campaigns.

These ads are delivered using anonymous subscriber profiles based on service usage and demographic data authorized via an “opt in” process and retained in a secure, privacy-protected repository by the service provider.

The vendor says its solution incorporates subscriber data analysis and management capabilities  to support ad targeting  and audience measurement features to precisely analyze the effectiveness and return on investment from particular campaigns.

As described by Alcatel-Lucent, the key elements in the targeted and interactive IPTV advertising solution are:

• New Targeted Ad Insertion Splicer and Targeted Ad Insertion Agent  deployed in a distributed fashion but operating in tandem  along with IPTV channel and ad activity tracking functions, all integrated into TPSDA;
• 5930 Interactive Media Manager which enables dynamic interactive applications and advertising campaigns; and
• 8660 Datagrid suite, 8920 Service Quality Manager, and 5410 Presence Server which unify subscriber data and measure responses for greater effectiveness of ad content.

The vendor did not provide pricing or specific availability for the raft of new products and enhancements.

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