Canoe To Shutter Interactive TV Ad Business, Lay Off 120

Canoe Ventures is shutting down interactive TV advertising operations -- closing its New York office and laying off 120 employees, including CEO Kathy Timko -- leaving about 30 employees to focus on VOD ads as its sole product, the company confirmed.

The decision to abandon ITV ads and dramatically pare back Canoe's mission came after a review by its cable operator owners, according to a Canoe spokeswoman. "It's the result of what the marketplace told us," she said. Despite Canoe's technical achievements, Madison Avenue did not buy the promise of nationally delivered interactive TV ads in a significant way. Among the reasons were that Canoe's reach across households and networks simply wasn't broad enough for the biggest marketers, and that the complexity of executing interactive campaigns didn't justify the additional time and expense. Canoe, in its radically slimmed-down form, will now attempt to create a national video on demand advertising platform that encompasses both traditional on-demand and eventually TV Everywhere. The company will be based in Denver and headed by newly appointed CEO Joel Hassell, who previously was chief technology officer.