• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, August 31, 2005

Viewpoint's Unicast division debuted a new version of its ad platform this week, adding transitional and pre-roll formats to its existing suite. Unicast's platform has until now integrated tracking, reporting, scheduling, and campaign management for in-page, expandable, and over-the-page rich media units, along with non-rich media units.

Prior to launch, the new platform underwent a two-month beta test with sites including America Online, ESPN.com, MSN, NYTimes.com, and Yahoo!. Unicast observed impression discrepancies--the difference between the number of ads served and those received by users--minimized to between 1 and 3 percent during testing, according to Unicast General Manager Larry Allen. "We're continuing to test the system, but the results have been very positive so far," Allen said.

Clients including Volkswagen, Kraft, and Honda have already begun implementing the new platform.

Other enhancements to Unicast's platform include optimized targeting for more predictable inventory planning; the ability to run multiple video and rich media assets simultaneously to enable more cohesive storytelling; and viral marketing capabilities via e-mail and instant messaging. The new technology is also compatible with Netscape and Mozilla Firefox to expand the reach of campaigns.

Other rich media shops also have been adding services and formats that are available to clients.

In late April, aQuantive's Atlas launched its own rich media offering, Atlas Rich Media, which was integrated into its digital marketing technology platform. DoubleClick, meanwhile, launched the latest version of DART Motif product, Motif Ad Kit 2.0, at the end of July. The new version, built with Macromedia, was designed to streamline the authoring environment and make it easier to traffic ads and control work flows. Also, Eyeblaster recently announced plans to add non-rich online ad serving and reporting to its suite with an all-in-one administrative platform by October.