Sony Pictures Television debuts its LatAM Online Video Advertising Sales Operations.

Sony Pictures Television (SPT) announced the launch of its online platform for Latin America which features Online Video Advertising, a pioneering tool in the region which allows advertisers to integrate their products to a wide array of online video content offered by SPT’s cable networks websites – www.canalsony.com, www.canalaxn.com, www.animaxtv.com.

“With this new online platform we are expanding our product portfolio to continue to satisfy the needs of our clients and allow them to benefit even more from our valuable internet content,” said Irving Plonskier, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Sony Pictures Television Ad Sales Latin America. “Advertisers will now have the opportunity to connect their brand with rich engaging content.”

SPT is focusing on this type of online miniseries that meet advertisers’ needs to present their products through video pre-rolls and post-rolls (between five to thirty seconds), a vehicle that has shifted throughout time from a luxury to a necessity for those looking to reach their target audiences effectively.
“We’ve noticed an increasing trend by Latin American consumers, even more than in Europe and the USA, in repeatedly going to the internet in search of high quality entertainment videos,” added Plonskier. “This phenomenon has created a direct and sophisticated alternate point of contact between brands and consumers.”

According to a study recently published by Nielsen, 70% of the world’s consumers spent time watching online videos during March 2010.
In response to this trend, the first miniseries that SPT will launch online is Urban Wolf, with a15 four minute episodes targeting males between 18 and 34 years of age.

The miniseries was launched at Comic-Con and was praised for best drama at the American Film Institute’s (AFI) 2009 ‘Digifest’. It has additionally been cited as a global best practice in terms of its strength and the ability to tell a story via a new media.

Filmed entirely on location in Paris, France, Urban Wolf stars Vincent Sze (a noted actor from the Hong Kong cinema scene) as a former MIT student who travels to Paris for a job interview. Walking the streets of the city, he begins to notice the numerous surveillance cameras that seemingly follow his every movement. What begins as a simple case of paranoia quickly escalates to full-blown fear as the sinister forces behind the cameras and technology emerge to relentlessly pursue the innocent American, testing his survival instincts.

Private, another of SPT’s new miniseries, created by the producers of “Gossip Girl”, has 20 webisodes which last between four to six minutes each and targets females between 18 and 24 years of age. Private takes place at the prestigious Easton Academy, a private boarding school for privileged teenagers where being accepted does not mean survival. Reed Brennan, a newly integrated honor student, manages to unmask the truth behind the famed Billings House dorm, where fashion and sophisticated gadgets collide with envy, violence, and even murders like the one experienced by her boyfriend.
SPT’s third digital production available to advertisers is the Video Game Awards, the video gaming industry’s most important award show which profiles successful talent, musical interpretations, and international web and TV debuts, as well as recognizes the best games and the creators that make them happen. (This production airs exclusively on Animax, both online and on air.) The online content showcased by SPT features exclusive game previews, interviews with the creators, industry news, image galleries, and an interactive social media platform for followers of Facebook, Friendster, and Twitter, among others.
“Clients have realized that online video advertising facilitates the dialogue with their customers, increases brand awareness, attracts potential buyers, and strengthens brand loyalty,” said Plonskier.