adRise Tests Skippable Ads

Looking to bridge online ad models to the television, adRise TV, the company that operates the recently launched free VOD service TubiTV, said it has completed its first skippable ad campaign featuring ads for the Lexus LS.

The skippable ad-unit, consisting of both a 15-second and 30-second, ran on more than 15 connected TV platforms, including Roku, the Xbox 360, and the Amazon Fire TV box, adRise said, noting that it conducted the trial from June 2 through July 13.

adRise, which partnered with marketing communications agency Team One on the project, was paid only for ads that were not skipped. Despite the ad-skipping element, the Lexus ad still achieved a 73% completion rate, the company said.

adRise believes that the enablement of ad-skipping, already popular on online platforms such as YouTube, provides a powerful tool for advertisers because it helps them know if they are engaging with the right audience, and gives them assurance that they only pay for ads that perform. In exchange, adRise charges a premium price when an ad is not skipped.

“We’re bringing tools that online advertisers love to the traditional big screen medium,” Farhad Massoudi, CEO of adRise, said.

With the trial with Lexus completed, he said adRise is now introducing the option to all of its advertisers, hoping to kick off more campaigns with the skippable ad feature in the coming months.

adRise’s ad-supported Tubi TV service  launched in April, and currently supports Web browsers, iOS devices, the Roku platform (pictured above), Xbox 360 and Amazon Fire TV. The company expects to add Android devices and support for the Google Chromecast adapter soon.

The service, which competes with Crackle, currently offers about 4,000 hours of content, and is slated to expand to more than 20,000 titles by the end of this year or by early 2015.