Expands MSP application suite to enable virtual zoning for linear TV with targeting down to zip+4 codes

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- (Business Wire)

BigBand Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: BBND), today unveiled a market first IP-based targeted advertising application. Operators using the application can increase advertising revenue generated from live TV that is delivered to both set-top boxes and IP-connected devices. With its patented virtual zoning technique, BigBand has created a method for digital TV service providers to deliver ads based on targeting criteria most attractive to an advertiser. Ads can be sent to traditional ad zones, to groups of devices based on demographics, or to geographic areas down to zip+4 codes.

Featuring the BigBand Media Services Platform (MSP), this network-based application allows ad delivery to be verified by the service provider’s network in a manner consistent with today’s measurement which is familiar to advertisers and ad agencies. The targeted advertising application integrates with existing back-office systems and is the first dynamic ad insertion for multicast IPTV with virtual zoning. The application dramatically reduces the bandwidth necessary to deliver both zoned and targeted advertising.

“Technical solutions that allow operators to create advertising inventory from advanced TV and IP-based systems are important elements to sustain and grow company revenues in today’s splintering TV ad market,” said Heather Way, Research Analyst, Parks Associates. “Virtual zoning is a practical transition from traditional geographic boundary targeting providing a high degree of flexibility for service providers to refine TV addressability while increasing the value proposition for advertisers.”

Virtual Zoning Leads to New Multi-screen Advertising Opportunities

The traditional TV industry continues to garner the lion’s share of video-based ad revenues despite the growing online video and mobile ad market. Parks Associates estimates revenues generated by digital-TV service providers and cable networks will reach approximately $28 billion by year-end 2011. Advanced TV ad revenues will fuel revenue growth with the market reaching $35 billion in 2015. To preserve and expand ad spends, both operators and advertisers are seeking new ways to reach consumers via multiple viewing screens in addition to more relevant, targeted advertising experiences to the traditional TV.

Virtual zoning, as a subset of targeted advertising, provides a practical transition with respect to business practices and technology migration. A virtual zone represents a clustering of subscribers that does not have to be tied to fixed geographic boundaries. Virtual zones are not constrained by access network topology. The ad zones can contain multiple individuals or groups of subscribers. As a result, it provides a high degree of flexibility for the operator to shape these clusters or zones in a manner most appealing to advertisers.

Additionally, a virtual zone can be based on demographic characteristics such as those provided by Nielsen PRIZM™ demographic groupings. This allows an advertiser to match a household with specific demographic characteristics to the corresponding targeted ad and thereby create a more relevant advertising experience to the viewer.

“Service providers are in a unique position to expand the critical role they play in delivering more personalized advertising for the benefit of consumers, advertisers, and content providers while increasing their bottom line,” said John Reister, Vice President and Chief Architect for IPTV at BigBand Networks. “The MSP is the powerhouse multi-screen platform delivering the new capabilities and reducing the complexity for operators to expand their advertising business.”

BigBand Solutions Lower Cost and Complexity of Digital Ad Insertion

The BigBand MSP-based advertising solutions include the preparation and transcoding of ad assets, ad splicing into linear TV streams, event reporting to insertion systems, and management using BigBand’s Video Management System software. Furthermore, the solutions operate completely within the digital domain and seamlessly splice ads into streams encrypted for a variety of network environments. This reduces the cost and complexity associated with ad insertion since decrypting, splicing, and re-encrypting are no longer required.

Since 2004, BigBand has worked steadily to arm digital TV service providers with flexible and dependable advertising solutions. These solutions have supported over one billion ad transactions in the last year and are a critical component of the advertising ecosystem for eight of the top ten service providers in North America.

Visit http://www.bigbandnet.com/index.php/new-revenue-services.html for additional information about BigBand’s MSP-based advertising capabilities.

About BigBand Networks

BigBand Networks, Inc. [NASDAQ: BBND] provides broadband service providers with innovative multi-screen video solutions designed to make it easier to move, manage and monetize video. These solutions are based on BigBand’s video-networking platforms that are built to enable efficient and reliable delivery across a wide range of services and screens, including broadcast, switched digital video, IPTV, video-on-demand, interactive TV, and advanced advertising. BigBand Networks has done business with more than 200 customers in North America, Asia and Europe -- including seven of the ten largest cable and telco service providers in North America. BigBand Networks is based in Redwood City, Calif., with offices worldwide. For additional information about the company, please call +1.650.995.5000, email info@bigbandnet.com or visit www.bigbandnet.com.

BigBand Networks’ brand and product names are service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of BigBand Networks, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined under the U.S. Federal Securities Laws, including the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is subject to the safe harbors created by such laws. Forward-looking statements may relate to, but are not limited to, the benefits to our customers and potential customers from the use of our targeted advertising solution. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations that involve a number of uncertainties and risks that may cause actual events or results to differ materially. Factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially include, among others, the following: rapid technological change that can adversely affect the demand for our advertising solution, design flaws in BigBand’s MSP solution, shifts in operators’ demand, shifts in strategic relationships especially by our competitors, delays in BigBand’s ability to deliver or decisions to discontinue its products and services, or announcements by competitors. These and other risks may be detailed from time to time in BigBand’s periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which may be obtained from www.sec.gov. BigBand Networks is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Information contained in our website is not incorporated by reference in, or made part of this press release.

Contacts:

Aries MarketMasters
Dawn Danaher, +1-714-378-5841
Melissa Malley, +1-650-961-1989
BigBand@ariesmm.com

Source: BigBand Networks, Inc.