Canoe Putting Coronavirus Public Service Ads in VOD

By Jon Lafayette
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

Canoe Ventures said it has been working with clients including NBCUniversal, The Walt Disney Co., and ViacomCBS to insert public service spots providing information about the Coronavirus into donated ad time.

Canoe, which inserts commercials into video-on-demand content for cable operators and networks, said it is waiving its fees for impressions generated by those PSAs to make the process frictionless and help get information to the public at this critical time.

Canoe has seen an uptick in VOD sessions because of social distancing and stay-at-home orders that have been boosting media consumption.

Since March 11, Canoe has seen a 20% increase in sessions compared to the rest of the first quarter.

Canoe is owned by Comcast, Charter Communications and Cox Communications and serves ads to homes in a footprint of about 38 million homes.

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.