DIRECTV, DISH Network launch “ASAP”

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DIRECTV Group and DISH Network announced the launch of the Advanced Satellite Advertising Platform (ASAP), a new interactive ad platform giving national television advertisers reach to nearly 30 million U.S. households.


The acronym ASAP is both a play on advertisers’ current needs for a more efficient, nationally-scaled interactive television platform and the platform’s immediate ability to deliver this interactive opportunity to the marketplace.

Advertisers will benefit from a turnkey, one-stop-shop approach with respect to the process of creating, planning, buying and implementing a national interactive campaign. ASAP’s core opportunity will offer advertisers the ability to showcase long-form advertorials on an exclusive, dedicated channel coupled with interactive opportunities to further engage the consumer. These interactive opportunities include additional product information, photo galleries, simple gaming, regional locators and requests-for-information (RFIs). RFIs enable consumers at home to enter a sweepstakes or request a product sample, informational brochure or coupon directly from the television using their remote control.

ASAP will be located on Ch. 115 on the DirecTV menu and on DISH Ch. 99. ASAP will be a fully measured ad platform utilizing third-party research services. Advertisers will receive in-depth post report metrics upon the completion of a campaign.

The announcement comes just two weeks after DIRECTV dropped a suit against DISH, where it had claimed DISH ran a campaign that made false claims about its monthly rates.

RBR-TVBR observation: A rare example of two arch competitors agreeing to cooperate where it will help the industry as a whole, rather than trying to one-up each other. Obviously, cable MSOs already have this type of functionality – which gave them an advantage with certain types of campaigns and advertisers. This may level that playing field a bit.