ABC Television Taps FreeWheel to Make the Web More Like TV

July 5, 2012 Source: Ad Age

Excitement's building among the AdMonsters Team as we prepare for OPS TV next week. With this event in mind, we have our eyes open for video-focused content, which seems to be exploding on the web right now – very timely. This piece from Ad Age explains how ABC has partnered with FreeWheel to effectively monetize the transition as TV moves to digital.

According to FreeWheel CEO Doug Knopper, "What we look as the real opportunity here is at some point in the future -- 5 or 10 years away -- the linear TV experience is going to be done in a dynamic digital environment. If just 25% goes to a digital dynamic on demand environment that is a huge opportunity -- bigger than anything in the online world today." Read the full article on AdAge.com.

TV wants its whole business model to survive the transition to digital platforms -- meaning both the subscription fees and the advertising. Subscription fees are coming to digital partly through "authentication" schemes that let you access programming on the web or various devices as long as you can prove you pay for cable or satellite TV.

Advertising is where tech startup FreeWheel comes in. Founded by a host of ex-DoubleClick execs in 2007, FreeWheel allows ads to follow the video wherever it happens to be, even YouTube. The dominant ad server for cable and broadcast networks, it recently added ABC Television Group to its roster, including ABC.com, ABCFamily.com and ABCNews.com, allowing the network to sell ads into shows whether they're viewed on ABC.com, Yahoo or mobile apps.

ABC Television joins NBC Universal, Fox, Turner Networks and 21 of the top 25 basic cable channels using FreeWheel. The rest are largely using their own home-brew ad servers or adapting one for display.

OPS TV

Pondering the future of TV and digital video? OPS TV will bring digital advertising leaders and ops professionals together to discuss the intersection of digital video and TV advertising. Register today for OPS TV, which will be held July 11, 2012, in New York.

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Ad Age