You've seen their virtual ads behind home plate at baseball games, but now
Princeton Video Image is going online. Later this year, the company plans to launch
IPoints, virtual ads that will be placed in the programs that run on RealNetworks RealPlayers.
Since 1997, PVIs have appeared on television, mostly on sporting events where the images look
real but are computer generated and aren’t really there. The same type of image will appear online, embedded in streams sent to RealPlayers by PVI's software. Still images and simple animations can
run, according to Brown Williams, PVI's chairman and founder.
Users will receive shows encoded with PVI software. They will be asked if they want to make the shows interactive and if they say
yes they will be able to receive the ads, although they will have the ability to turn off the I-Point plug-in.
The advertising will be targeted to individuals and demographic groups, with PVI
working with companies like DoubleClick to target the ads, much as they do banner ads. "We don't have the databases that identify individual users, so we'll partner with companies in the business,"
Williams says.
PVI works with broadcasters, cutting deals to alter their shows with advertising images in exchange for a cut of the proceeds. RealNetworks gets none of the ad revenue, Williams
says, nor does PVI pay RealNetworks a fee. "They're like the phone company, they do the transmission," he says. "RealNetworks is eager to participate because having software like PVI helps them sell
media players. It gives them more pizzazz." RealNetworks was unavailable for comment.
The advertising is like product placement advertising with the images appearing in different places in the
shows, from side boards in sports shows to the actual drama of a sitcom, such as a can of Coke appearing on a table. When asked how PVI could alter the content of the shows that way, Williams said it
was only done with the permission of the shows' producers who PVI pays for installing the images.
Only RealNetworks players will be used at first. "We could download the player without them,
but users have more confidence in their players," Williams says. "It lends credibility to our product." RealNetworks has 215 million RealPlayer users who will be able to receive the ads.
PVI is
developing software for other players, including Windows Media and Apple QuickTime, but they aren't available yet.
Major advertisers such as Coke, Pepsi and Toyota have used PVI's television
service but no one has signed up for the Web service yet. "It's an educational process," Williams says, indicating clients and agencies will have to learn about it before they buy in. It's expected to
debut late this year, possibly in association with the introduction of a new version of the RealPlayer.
Williams says selling advertising for it will be similar to selling TV time in that it
will reach certain demographics, like TV ads do. But "it will be a little more direct than TV, with better targeting capabilities." The other difference is that PVI pays TV broadcasters and producers
for running TV ads, but will only pay the producers for IPoints.