After 10 years as an independent French-language portal, Branchez-vous has unveiled its second generation, two video portals – branchez-vous.tv and BV2.tv.

Marketers can also take advantage of the video capabilities of the portals with live action or animated ads to reach French-speaking, predominately male demos ranging from 15 to 49 years of age.

Patrick Pierra, president and CEO, says the sites can accommodate 30-second video ads but recommends 10- to 15-second spots, animated or live action, in either Windows Media or Flash. The standard big box ad can also be animated or used interactively to click through to a separate site. It is a leave-behind ad that stays on the page before, during, and after the selected video is viewed.

Although the two new sites were just launched this week, Pierra says the company intends to maximize the flow of traffic from the main portal, which has a monthly reach of between 700,000 and 800,000 French-speaking Canadians according to ComScore Media Metrix.

‘Branchez-vous.com is the largest independent portal in Quebec; it’s not part of a large media or telecom group. We were the first to launch, in September 1995, which explains our large reach.’

Each of the new portals features a selection of video clips from one to five minutes in length that can be viewed on demand, free of charge. The content of branchez-vous.tv is news and information geared to adults 25 to 49 working in technology companies or technology-related fields. BV2.tv is skewed to a younger demo, ages 15 to 34, with a selection of music videos and interviews, excerpts and reviews of video games, and extreme sports videos.

Video portal users are expected to be primarily male if the parent portal is any indication. Visitors to Branchez-vous.com are 80% male.