By Jay B. Schiller, nCUBE Corporation
Video-on-demand (VOD) is now a standard 'must-have' service for cable operators. It is highly strategic in reducing churn and growing premium digital subscriptions. It also provides a great financial return on invested capital through movies on demand and subscription VOD (SVOD). Local ad sales, meanwhile, continue to provide cable operators significant cash flow and are an excellent promotional vehicle for cable operator’s various services including VOD. As viewers migrate to ondemand, local and national ad insertion must migrate as well in order to sustain and grow cable ad sales’ revenue. In addition, VOD and digital cable platforms offer unique opportunities to target advertising to households, as well as interact with ads, both of which have the potential to grow ad sales businesses for both operators and cable networks far beyond today's TV advertising market share.