BrightLine enables inclusion of voice assistant prompts in OTT ads

Monday, June 18th, 2018
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BrightLine Brings Voice Activation to Next Generation of Enhanced TV Ads

  • Leveraging the growing footprint of voice-enabled TV devices brings new ways for viewers to transact and engage with commercials

NEW YORK — BrightLine, the market leader in enhanced TV advertising, is adding voice activation to its enhanced OTT ad platform, InCast. The company says that voice activation will open the door for commerce, attribution and deeper engagement, enabling networks and advertisers to make the most of every OTT ad impression.

“As TV voice assistants become increasingly sophisticated and integrated with our viewing experiences, so too must we integrate them into our ads,” said Robert Aksman, BrightLine’s Chief Strategy Officer.

BrightLine’s unique device-aware enhanced ad platform can detect which voice assistant a TV utilizes, and dynamically incorporates available commands into ads. For example, on Fire TV, a viewer will be prompted to tell Alexa to add the product they’re viewing to their shopping cart for immediate or later purchase. Viewers on Apple TV may see an ad for a new show, prompting them to tell Siri to add it to their “Up Next” list. The device-aware prompts only appear on ads when the appropriate assistant is detected, and commands are available.

“On the heels of Apple’s announced enhancements to Apple TV at WWDC, and new voice-driven TV products like Amazon Cube, BrightLine’s InCast platform is now taking the plunge to ensure we’re keeping pace with ‘voice’s’ growing role in our TV experiences,” Aksman said. “This is only the beginning as we develop custom skills, and deeper connectivity and awareness with IoT devices on the same network as the user’s TV.”

The TV industry has coalesced around BrightLine as the TV industry standard for advanced ad formats. InCast has been adopted by all leading broadcast and cable network groups, finally giving TV buyers the only truly scalable set of advanced ad formats that can be used across the entire OTT footprint.

“We’ve seen a 150% increase in demand for enhanced ad formats in OTT, as marketers in all categories are comfortable with the changing paradigm in TV delivery,” said Jacqueline Corbelli, CEO of BrightLine. “Marketers have shown they’re ready to up the ante and take advantage of all the bells and whistles that these new viewing experiences allow to improve the ad experience, and drive value.”

Voice activation joins a growing stable of tools BrightLine has rolled out with InCast in the past year, including in-stream engagement in live programming, personalized ad creative, and t-commerce.