SAN FRANCISCO – Federated Media Publishing (FM), a next-generation media and publishing company, announced Ad STAMP, a premium, high-impact display advertising product designed to overcome the challenges faced by marketers, publishers and consumers in today’s digital media ecosystem, and take advantage of the opportunities for engagement provided by today’s social media environment. Ad STAMP dedicates an expanded amount of Web page real estate to the marketer, while enhancing the media experience for the reader, and bringing both parties together in mutually beneficial conversation.

“Ad STAMP is a premium ad product that adds value to all parties in the media ecosystem,” said James Gross, vice president of Federated Media. “It provides a cleaner, clutter-free environment for the reader, it allows a marketer to present its message in a more impactful way, and it offers the publisher increased revenue opportunities. We’ve already seen some very encouraging demand in the marketplace, and I think the available features and functionality fill a need that we’ve consistently heard from our marketing partners.”

Ad STAMP includes persistent placement of three innovative ad units that are executed on a “takeover” basis, meaning that, while STAMP ads are running, the advertiser owns 100% of the ad space on the site. This reduces the noise common to many digital media environments, focuses all of the attention on the marketer’s message, and offers the marketer the maximum ROI due to its adjacency to the high-quality content of premium media brands.

STAMP includes:

The “Pushdown”

The Pushdown makes an immediate, unmistakable impact with a large dynamic ad that expands to 970×418, then collapses to a mere 970×66. This ad provides an appropriate amount of real estate and a temporary interruption in order to bring the brand’s message to the website’s audience.

The “Tower”

The Tower is a 300×600 ad unit that lives in the side-bar. This is an ad format that has quickly been adopted by the Web’s leading publishers. It offers continued exposure for the brand message as the user scrolls down through the page.

The “Conversationalist”

The Conversationalist is a 600×250 social ad unit that allows brand advertisers to engage their readers in conversation directly within the ad unit via social media tools like corporate and product blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook fan pages, RSS feeds, syndicated content and more. This unit offers persistent placement within the editorial well of the website, increasing engagement to a level more typical of that enjoyed by the content itself.

Ad STAMP was designed to work in an organic way within the design of social media sites. Marketers have full creative control over the execution and are armed with a full array of creative tools including rich media and “companion ad” functionality. The “Conversationalist” ad unit is fully customizable based on the goals, priorities and social assets of the advertiser. All three units run concurrently. Ad STAMP is exclusive to one brand per day and is available 5 weekdays per month.

“At comScore, we’ve been strong proponents of the value of online display advertising and the need for more creativity in its use,” said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore. “Federated Media has always been an innovator in digital media and it’s great to see the company now turning its talents to the design of new display ad units. This is just the kind of ad execution that should appeal to brands that are used to buying full-page magazine spreads or 30-second television spots.”

“It’s been clear for some time now that the state of display advertising on the Web leaves plenty to be desired,” said John Battelle, founder, president and CEO of Federated Media. “We applaud all marketers, publishers and organizations that are pushing the envelope on innovative advertising products. We hope that Ad STAMP helps solve a challenge that brands and publishers have faced since the days of the first banner ads: how to increase the value of an impression.”

About Federated Media

Federated Media (FM) is a next generation media and publishing company that connects the highest-quality conversational content with leading brand marketers. FM Represents more than 100 of the world’s most respected websites, blogs, and social networking applications. With a unique combination of quality, safety and scale, FM leverages deep, long-term relationships with brand marketers and advertising agencies to create cost effective and meaningful media and marketing executions. Learn more at www.federatedmedia.net.

London, June 4th, 2009 – VIDEOPLAZA, announces its first UK clients for its ‘built for video’ ad server platform – Monetizer. Factory Media and Incisive Media will both launch online video advertising services, through Videoplaza, to capitalise on the growing popularity of online video.

Videoplaza, a privately owned company, based in Stockholm and London, enables clients to manage, present and track online video advertising. It has developed an ad server platform that can increase revenues and demonstrate media value, from advertising placed in and around their online video content. Working with leading broadcasters, news media, business and consumer publishers in five countries, Videoplaza’s ad server technology, creative ad formats and real-time reporting enables clients to monetise the time users spend watching online video, rather than started streams.

Factory Media’s extreme sports video channel Mpora www.mpora.com will offer advertisers and sponsors access to its valuable audiences using Interactive Pre, Mid and Post Roll advertising. The channel will also use In-stream overlays, served within the video content, a format proving popular with advertisers and users alike and also Companion Ads synchronised with a client’s video ads.

Incisive Media, www.incisivemedia.com, a leading business information provider, is implementing Videoplaza’s ad server to offer exciting new opportunities for brands and B2B advertisers to target its high value audiences, starting with the IT professional community VNUnet  www.vnunet.com

By adopting Videoplaza’s ad server platform both companies will be able to more effectively manage their online video advertising inventory, optimize client campaigns and demonstrate improved advertiser ROI, in terms of advertising exposure and engagement. The deals will also introduce the next generation interactive preroll format to the market called the iRoll.

John Barnes, Managing Director – Digital Strategy and Development UK & Asia for Incisive Media stated “We see a great opportunity in video and want to be equipped with the best monetisation tool in the market. We have chosen to work with Videoplaza not just because of their technology, this company understands this space and has made it work in other markets.”

According to Darryl Newton, Managing Director, Factory Media, “Mpora.com is now a significant part of our business, with over 2 million video streams served each month. Demand for advertising on our platform is growing incrementally and clients are particularly excited by creative video solutions. Working with Videoplaza we feel we can meet the needs of these customers better by offering more dynamic and engaging formats combined with video specific reporting such as engagement rates and time spent with the ads.

Sorosh Tavakoli, Founder and CEO for Videoplaza added “We are delighted to announce agreements with these two great innovative publishers. We are doing everything we can to repeat the success from the Swedish market where more and more publishers have profitable online video products.”

Videoplaza has been in the UK since January 2009 and is building a local team to advise and support both local media owners and international networks based in London.

For further information contact:

Sorosh Tavakoli, Founder and CEO Videoplaza
+44 7530 885 492
sorosh@videoplaza.com

John Barnes, Managing Director – Digital Strategy and Development UK & Asia, Incisive Media
+44 (0)20 7316 9007
john.barnes@incisivemedia.com

Darryl Newton, Managing Director, Factory Media
+44 (0)20 7332 9700
darryl.newton@factorymedia.com

About Videoplaza

Videoplaza AB is based in London and Stockholm, privately owned and backed by venture capital company Creandum. The company is working with leading broadcasters, newspaper publishers and other premium media owners in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the UK. It has developed an ad server that is uniquely designed to meet the challenges of monetising online video content. The technology is compatible with any video platform, offers rich video specific reporting and maximises the clients potential advertising inventory. The ad formats offered are all compliant with the new IAB UK Video Guide launched April 29th, 2009.

Videoplaza website: http://www.videoplaza.com
Videoplaza blog: http://www.videoplaza.com/blog
Videoplaza client list: http://www.videoplaza.com/customers

The value of online video advertising is forecast to increase, in line with its growing popularity with users. eMarketer estimates the market will be worth $1.9Bn by 2011 and to account for 10% of all online advertising spend.

The technology challenge for many publishers is to make their traditional display ad server work seamlessly with their video platform. Too often, their existing technology is not able to deliver the potential volume of ads given the length of time users are spending watching video. Videoplaza’s ‘built for video’ ad server lets publishers place and then track the effectiveness of their clients advertising, while allowing more campaigns to be served while not being too intrusive to the users. The company can demonstrate how this has more than doubled client revenues.

NEW YORK – As the online advertising community is calling for the implementation of more creative ads, Giant Realm, Inc. has announced a new eye-catching option for marketers. The online media company reaching millions of young men through its publisher group of top entertainment and gaming enthusiast communities unveiled the web’s largest Flash video overlay ad unit. Measuring 938 x 518, Giant Realm’s custom-designed placement consumes the screen while the video player is loading, creating a dramatic yet unobtrusive experience.

Once the overlay unit resolves and the requested content begins to play, a 300 x 250 companion unit appears beside the player and remains for the duration of the video. Both the custom-designed overlay and the branded companion units are clickable, driving qualified traffic to the advertiser’s site for more information about the product and/or for purchase.

The new video overlay ad unit has launched on numerous communities throughout the Giant Realm Publisher Group and the Giant Realm Platform, the company’s free social media platform, including www.Myndflame.com, www.GotGame.com, www.ScrewAttack.com, www.Starfeeder.com, and www.Noobflicks.com. Currently serving one million impressions per month, Giant Realm expects inventory to increase significantly as the unit is rolled out to more sites in the coming weeks.

James Green, CEO, Giant Realm, Inc., commented: “What’s important in advertising, and cannot be achieved with the standard banner, is to create something completely custom and engaging that allows a product’s message to be conveyed in its entirety. In this respect the Internet is only in its infancy as compared to traditional media and the powerful 30 second spot. However, an intrusive ad that stands between our vocal audience and its content won’t be accepted, either. Our video overlay unit gives advertisers a new opportunity to tell their brand’s story online to a captive audience without disrupting the user experience.”

Advertisers have been increasingly incorporating Giant Realm into their overall media buy due to its reach to this elusive male demographic as well as its ability to execute innovative and effective campaigns.

About Giant Realm, Inc:

Giant Realm, Inc. (www.GiantRealm.com, http://Corp.GiantRealm.com/) is a rapidly-growing online media company which helps marketers reach the male 18-34 demographic that has disappeared from the traditional media landscape and online portals. GiantRealm.com and its growing publisher group deliver authentic content and community for enthusiasts of entertainment platforms including video games, film/TV and humor. The New York-based company exclusively represents all websites that are part of the Giant Realm Publisher Group and allows its publishers to monetize 100% of their ad inventory. According to Google Analytics, Giant Realm currently reaches 36.5 million individuals worldwide every month. Giant Realm’s shareholders include SoftBank Capital, Comcast Interactive Capital, the William Morris Agency and the Edison Venture Fund.