Dynamic ad insertion (DAI) in cable VOD continued its explosive growth in the third quarter, according to figures released by Canoe, the cable industry consortium charged with developing, curating and monitoring the cable DAI market. Specifically, cable companies registered 2.3 billion pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll impressions, up 40 percent over the same period in 2014.
So far this year, cable operators have delivered nearly 7.7 billion DAI ads in their on-demand programming after delivering only about 6.3 billion for all of 2014, and about 1.1 billion in 2013.
Chris Pizzurro, head of product sales and marketing for Canoe, told FierceCable that "many factors" are contributing to the fast growth of cable DAI impressions, which tripled in the first quarter and increased 8 percent in the second quarter.
For one, the total footprint of Canoe's measurable market now exceeds 35 million homes across systems from Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), Cox Communications and Bright House Networks. That footprint only measured around 32 million as of the end of the third quarter of last year, Pizzurro said.
Buy-in from programmers is helping. Jennifer Mirgorod, executive VP of distribution for Turner Networks, told FierceCable in June that "Turner entered the VOD business with some trepidation." But now, seeing the viewing potential on platforms like Comcast, Turner is now enabling its programs to be "stacked" on cable VOD platforms so that they can be binge-viewed by pay-TV customers.
Meanwhile, an influx of advertisers is making a huge contribution, as well. DAI campaigns in cable DAI reached 998 in the third quarter, up from 661 in the year prior.
"Brands are recognizing this is good addition to their media plans, with many starting to allocate at least 5 percent of their budgets to VOD," Pizzurro said.
VOD DAI is a relatively new market for cable operators, programmers and advertisers, allowing them to monetize programming viewed beyond Nielsen's "C7" commercial rating, which measures viewing up to seven days after initial broadcast.
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