Virgin Media today announced the findings from its first dynamic advertising trial on its on-demand TV service. As part of a three-month trial, ads from leading brands including Kellogg’s, John Lewis and Royal Mail, were inserted around selected on-demand programs from Virgin Media TV, Channel 4 and Warner TV, to 100,000 homes across north London.

More than half, 54 percent, of Virgin Media’s triallists were positive about advertising when watching on-demand content from commercial providers. Sixty-five percent preferred to see ads beforehand with ads lasting 30 seconds the most popular format. Respondents also favored ads relevant to the program being watched, such as hair care ads before "Britain’s Next Top Model" or ads for homeware after "Grand Designs."

The ad trial drove a 62 percent increase in the spontaneous awareness of brands and products among the triallists. Awareness of individual ads increased by 27 percent, and overall campaign recognition also showed an increase of 27 percent.

SeaChange International’s AdPulse system was used during the trial, inserting ads before and after on-demand content in real time. Virgin Media’s trial matched ads to program genres, tested a range of ad lengths, including single 30-second pre-rolls, consecutive pre-rolls and end rolls, and updated campaigns weekly. The number of ads were capped with a limit on the volume of programs that had ads placed around them.

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