Visible World Expands Online Via Tremor Media

by Les Luchter, May 31, 2007, 6:00 AM

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Bringing its IntelliSpot video ad targeting capabilities beyond the household level limits previously possible with cable TV, Visible World will use Tremor Media's Ad-inStream network to expand online and down to the sub-household, individual browser level.

In an announcement to be made today at an Interactive Advertising Bureau Leadership Luncheon, the seven-year-old Visible World will launch its new Broadband & Wireless Division, and name Tremor--with 75 million unique monthly visitors--as its first online distributor.

Andy Sheldon, vice president of the new division, joined Visible World from Sun Microsystems in October, where he worked on telco, media and entertainment marketing. Prior to that, he handled TV initiatives at Microsoft.

Sheldon told OnlineMediaDaily that "six months of hard work to extend what we do in cable and TV" will come to fruition next quarter when Visible World launches at least three Flash-based online campaigns through Tremor Media--for advertisers in the automotive, high-tech and theme park categories, two of which are already using Visible World targeting on TV and cable.

Explaining how a campaign would work, Sheldon said that an auto marketer wanting to promote seven different vehicles in 14 cities, with 20 local dealerships in each market, would be able to deliver nearly 2,000 possible different versions of an in-stream ad.

Based on ZIP codes derived through Tremor, each online user could get an ad tagged to his or her nearest dealer that also promotes a vehicle targeted to the user's own demographic.

In addition, real-time data from Visible World's third-party affiliates, such as weather forecasters, can switch the vehicle to a convertible from a hard-top, or from a 2-wheel drive to 4-wheel drive. Then the click-through for each ad can go a unique URL at the local dealer--for instance, if the ad is for a particular type of pre-owned vehicle, they get a list of available vehicles of that type at the local dealer.

In addition to car companies, other major Visible World cable advertisers that Sheldon expects to loom large online are TV networks themselves.

Tune-in ads that can change channel numbers and other info not only market by market but also by cable system ZIP codes have made this category predictably hot on TV, and Sheldon sees the popularity transferring to the Web "as more media companies use their online inventory to promote programming that's coming up."

Sheldon pointed out that video is a natural extension for all online advertisers who have been doing similar targeting for display and search-based ads. "The same targeting data is now applied to a video creative message," he explained.

Visible World, which currently has more than 200 advertisers using IntelliSpot, said the new online initiative is in direct response to requests from clients to also deliver their video campaigns in broadband.

Advertisers buy media on the Tremor network. Next, Tremor requests an IntelliSpot from Visible World together with targeting parameters from the Tremor ad management system. Visible World then decides the optimum version for each ad request and delivers that directly to the ad unit making the request, either in-banner or in-stream.

As for the wireless side of his division, Sheldon said formats and standards are currently being studied, and to expect an announcement toward the end of the year about a rollout in 2008. Visible World's aim, he said, is to control the message (where it goes and which message is seen) "regardless of media outlet"--whether broadcast, cable, online or wireless.

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