Alcatel-Lucent demos first complete IPTV ad insertion

TelcoTV: Alcatel-Lucent demos first complete IPTV ad insertion

By Carol Wilson

Alcatel-Lucent is using the TelcoTV show to demonstrate what the company is billing as the first complete ad-insertion system for IPTV, using its Triple Play Service Delivery Architecture (TPSDA) 2.0. The Alcatel-Lucent Targeted and Interactive IPTV Advertising Solution was announced at Broadband World Forum in late September.

“We are demonstrating targeted advertising that can be done on a national, local or targeted basis,” said Charles Bahr, Alcatel-Lucent’s solutions architect for Carrier Business Group Marketing. The system not only provides the ad insertion capability but also the intelligence to build subscriber profiles to which targeted ads can be directed and measurement tools to gauge ad effectiveness.

The IPTV Advertising Solution leverages Alcatel Lucent’s IPTV solution, deployed by 55 triple-play providers globally, and its end-to-end integration projects, which now number 60 globally.

“This is a capability we developed in response to customer requests from the largest type of video content providers,” Bahr said. “The US is the largest market for cable ad insertion, but IPTV providers have not been able to tap that market.”

The Alcatel-Lucent approach aggregates data from multiple databases used by telcos to track previous behavior, along with demographic data, to create an anonymous subscriber profile, Bahr said. Opt-in functionality is included to protect consumer privacy. In addition, audience measurement is included to calculate advertising return on investment. “When you can collect clicks, not just views, it is much more valuable,” Bahr said. The Alcatel-Lucent solution will also allow service providers the flexibility to provide interactive buttons that consumers can use to contact local advertisers, to schedule the test run of a new car, for example, he said. All user responses are also then added to the subscriber profile.

As demonstrated at TelcoTV, the solution builds on Alcatel-Lucent’s 7750 Service Router. It incorporates Transport Stream Splicing, which resembles IP switching, Bahr said, giving IPTV providers a solution that doesn’t require the decoding and re-encoding of typical cable ad insertion systems.

Other elements of the system include a Targeted Ad Insertion Splicer and Targeted Ad Insertion Agent; the Alcatel-Lucent 5930 Interactive Media Manager, the Alcatel-Lucent 8660 Datagridsuite, 8920 Service Quality Manager and 5410 Presence Server, all used to aggregate subscriber data and measure responses.

“This is an end-to-end solution that includes ad insertion built into the network and the router,” said Thomas Fuerst, senior director of solution marketing for Alcatel Lucent’s Carrier Business Group. “We are working with third parties who use the SCTE standard, which is a proven model, and we can bring their services to bear here as well. This is a reference solution, basically a generic design, and we can then do customization for individual customers’ networks. Our professional services built on our extensive IPTV experience are part of the value here.”