TORONTO – Bell Media is trialling the use of audio fingerprinting technology via its recently launched Discovery Channel app and a partnership with Canadian media services firm Media Experts.
Audio fingerprinting allows advertisers to embed the audio from a 30-second TV ad in an app. When a viewer watching the network also has the Discovery Channel app open, it listens for the audio content of specific ads which prompts it to simultaneously deploy a customized rich-media digital ad on the viewer's handheld device. The viewer may then interact with the ad unit via video, photos, and other touch-optimized content, or dismiss the ad.
Virgin Mobile is the first advertising partner to sign on with the technology through a window that runs until September 16. Bell Mobility will follow with its own window through September 25.
"Media Experts is a valued agency partner and we're thrilled to work together on this ground-breaking offering within Discovery," said Nancy McConnell, Bell Media’s VP of digital sales, in the announcement. "We're excited about the benefits and insights that audio fingerprinting technology offers both our advertising partners and our viewers and look forward to continuing our tradition of innovative multi-screen experiences."
"Understanding that traditional media plants seeds that digital media can harvest, this new advanced advertising solution was conceived to leverage the multi-screen consumer experience," added Media Experts SVP Richard Ivey. "This new solution allows 'viewsers' to telescope from lean-back, reductive advertising content on the big screen to lean-in, expansive advertising content on the small screen. This is an important part of the future of television."
