• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, December 1, 2011

Canoe Ventures is serving interactive ads in 25 million homes for three networks, while testing a polling and trivia capability that is set to launch nationally in 2012.

AMC, Style and E! are running request-for-information ads in homes served by multiple cable operators in 128 of the 210 DMAs. Discovery, History, Bravo and USA can place the spots in about 15 million homes. (RFI ads allow a viewer to order a sample or brochure to be sent in the mail via the remote control.) 

The polling and trivia iTV functionality test is being conducted on the G4 network in 3.5 million homes in several markets.

“I think 2012 really marks a shift from building the platform and technology to a much more go-to-market strategy,” Canoe CEO Kathy Timko said Thursday at a Broadcasting & Cable event.

Canoe is owned by the six largest cable operators, and most of the networks it is working with are owned by them. The aim is to stitch together a system that can deliver iTV advertising in all homes served by the six.

As the RFI and polling/trivia products roll out, CEO Timko said the company is moving forward with a dynamic ad insertion product for video-on-demand streams (VODDAI).

A test is planned for next year with one of the Canoe owners, but a launch will not come until networks and the cable operators agree on terms. Canoe is not part of those discussions.

“We are a technology-enabling company,” Timko said Thursday at the event.

Timko, who succeeded David Verklin as CEO, said Canoe has made considerable headway over the past few years, but indicated that much has gone unnoticed. “We’ve made so much progress, and a lot of it has been under the hood. Much of it has been in building out this platform,” she said.

Over time, that platform may also include homes served by satellite operators, as well as cable systems. “We’re not just about the cable companies … we’re about national scale for television,” she said.