• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, March 14, 2008

In its continued effort to woo customers over to its FiOS TV and FiOS Internet, Verizon is running a new national TV ad, starring satisfied customers who rave about the quality of the fiber-optic network services.

The new ad "takes aim at the power of the network, and lets customers talk about it in their own words," says a Verizon spokesperson. The ad also features excerpts of rave third-party reviews from industry publications, including: "a near flawless TV experience" and "Glorious. Spectacular. Almost breathtaking."

The ad is the latest in the company's "This is FiOS; This is Big," campaign, which broke last month, as reported by Marketing Daily Feb. 18. The first ad stars filmmaker Michael ("Pearl Harbor" and "Armageddon") Bay, in which he spoofs his image as a high-octane kind of guy. Bay blows up things around his house to demonstrate how FiOS "blows away" cable Internet service, with upload and download speeds that Verizon claims are up to 25 times faster.

The next ad, says the spokesperson, will feature a "superstar professional athlete" and is scheduled to air later; it will detail more of the FiOS features.

FiOS Internet was available for sale to 7.5 million homes in parts of 17 states by the end of 2007, and 1.5 million are subscribers. FiOS TV was available for sale to 5.9 million homes in parts of 13 states by the end of 2007, and more than 1 million now subscribe.