Zip TV dispute cuts launch audience for Honda i-ads: competition came to the iTV ad market last week when Honda screened its first commercial via Zip TV. But a row over sales house contracts means only Channel 4 is showing the campaign

New Media Age, July, 2004 by Jonathan Webdale

When Honda's latest interactive TV ad went live last week on Channel 4 it was a momentous occasion for Andrew Howells and Donna Barradale, founders of Zip Television.

Honda is a big name in advertising and in the comparatively small world of iTV advertising it's even bigger, having run some of the most successful campaigns to date.

So for Zip, it was a major coup to have Honda as the face of its inaugural interactive commercial (i-ad), finally marking the arrival of an alternative to Sky Interactive, whose i-ad solution currently dominates the marketplace.

Zip has succeeded in opening up iTV advertising to competition, and in doing has enabled Channel 4 to offer video content in its i-ads. The company is determined to usher in a new dawn for iTV...