Vizio Beta-Testing Ad Feature to 'Bridge' Linear TV, Streaming

Vizio launched a feature Thursday called Jump Ads that gives viewers options on how they view commercials. Vizio calls it “a bridge” between linear TV and streaming services that lets programmers and brands present an interactive overlay at the end of linear TV programs that directs viewers into a supporting app on SmartCast TVs "to continue their viewing experience,” the company said. Fox is the first company to test the feature for Welcome to Flatch. Viewers will be prompted to continue watching more episodes of the program or to catch up on past episodes on the Fox Now app, where the company is streaming the first seven shows on-demand the same day as the premiere. “By encouraging and increasing viewership across formats, Jump Ads gives content providers a new opportunity to engage viewers beyond a single linear session with the ability to fully control and customize the user journey between platforms,” Vizio said. Viewers can choose at what point of the show the ads will appear, how often they appear, and which app the overlap points to. The company is working with additional content providers on integrations, it said. Jump Ads uses Vizio’s Inscape automatic character recognition technology to recognize when a program participating in Jump Ads is on air, and additional proprietary Vizio software to target and serve the overlay to the viewer in real-time.