Etc.tv begins a 10-week trial of its advertising-on-demand network in November with a veritable Who’s Who of Canada’s major marketers taking part as charter advertisers. Molson Canada, which was the first to sign on back in March, is joined on the roster by the Big Three automakers Daimer-Chrysler Canada, Ford Motors of Canada, General Motors of Canada, as well as The National Bank of Canada, and packaged goods giants Procter & Gamble and Unilever among others. Ian MacLean, VP/GM of Montreal-based etc.tv, says the trial participants recognize the importance of understanding how consumers behave in a digital media world where they are now in control. Described as a Telescopic Television Advertising model, etc.tv allows advertisers to have extended conversations with self-selected consumers who opt in and choose to find out more about a brand, product, or service by using their TV’s remote control to access long-form ads.
Clicking an on-screen etc.tv icon in a 30-second spot brings up a menu of available content, which could be a long-form commercial, infomercial, or a branded half-hour show. Viewers can then choose to return to the live program, watch the content right away, or bookmark the content to view later. Because it is an interactive system, they can stop, pause, rewind or fast-forward the content as they would a program they’d downloaded to their PVR. During the 10-week test, the etc.tv application will be available on TVA and LCN news and information network to Videotron digital cable customers subscribing to its illico digital interactive TV service. Videotron has about 1.5 million cable customers in Quebec and more than 350,000 of them currently subscribe to the illico interactive service.
A full commercial launch of etc.tv will follow the pilot. MacLean is currently in talks with Canada’s other leading cable providers with his ultimate goal being the creation of a national ad-on-demand network.
