Big Media on Campus: a4 Services Target the College Crowd

Cable system owner Altice USA manages the venture through its a4 advanced advertising sales division and Cheddar a channel owned by Altice that specializes in business finance technology and culture There are two separate services on offer the site Rate My Professors and the Cheddar U networkCheddar U is available at approximately 400 colleges and universities on around 1400 widescreen TV sets or monitors placed inside student union buildings food courts gyms and other public venues Students can watch the adsupported network live from 7 am to 11 pm local time or roundtheclock in their dorm rooms if Cheddar U is part of their schools39 closedcircuit cable hookupAccording to a4 around five million students view the service in some fashion every month With more students expected to attend classes in person this fall as the coronavirus pandemic becomes endemic monthly attendance could increase Matt Kaplan Altice USA39s Senior Vice President of National Sales noted that Cheddar U engages Gen Z viewers in a highly effective manner and represents a unique opportunity for advertisers quotYou39re looking at a onetomany experiencequot he explained quotOne screen is reaching dozens of students at any given timequotInvite job candidates to apply live during the Media and Advertising Community39s Black Talent Outreach Week at MediaVillagecom and AdvancingDiversityorg October 1720 Apply for jobssubmit your resume hereDistribution challenges make it difficult for most other multichannel operators and national TV services to reach so many young people on campuses he added noting that a4 is intent on quotsuper servingquot the college cohort quotWe see it as a great business for us one that we feel has a continued opportunity for growthquot he saidAltice USA entered the collegeuniversity scene through the remnants of MTVU a campusdistributed network that its former owner Viacom established in 2002 Cheddar gained control of MTVU in 2018 replaced it with its own network then turned the entire operation over to Altice USA twoandahalf years agoRate My Professors attracts students in a different way It profiles tens of thousands of collegeuniversity professors and invites users to write and post reviews of classroom experiences The site draws about five million unique visitors per month with increased traffic at the start of each semester according to a4Advertisers have the option to buy space or messages on either Cheddar U or Rate My Professors separately or in a combination dealRecent sponsors of the two services include Chevrolet 7Eleven Invesco Morgan Stanley HBO Bayer Ernst ampamp Young and Wendy39s Quickservice restaurants QSRs entertainment and job recruiting companies are the top product categories according to Kaplan QSRs often highlight special offers or discounts at their nearcampus sitesquotWe39re using custom creative to engage students in a way that39s most appropriate for each platformquot Kaplan saidSome advertisers using addressable or digital technology insert one or twominute vignettes or commercials into Cheddar U39s feed to reach students at a specific campus or group of institutions Currently Chevrolet has an ad campaign playing on Cheddar U within historically Black colleges and universities HBCUs Of the more than 100 HBCUs across the country about 40 offer Cheddar UVarious thirdparty research entities also provide a4 on Campus with updated data on foot traffic in spaces where the largescreen TVs are located as well as brand recall and impact on local sales among students quotWe39re looking to add as much data and attribution to our partners39 campaigns as possiblequot Kaplan concludedClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Big Media on Campus: a4 Services Target the College Crowd

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Simon Applebaum

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