NEW YORK – Conviva, Inc., an advanced streaming video solutions provider, unveiled Video AdVantage™, a new solution for content owners and advertisers that improves the quality of the experience (QoE) for online video and integrated ad plays from an end-user viewer’s perspective.

Video AdVantage provides a viewer-side vantage point of each and every stream and uses proactive adjustments to raise the video resolution and prevent interruptions due to buffering. Viewers who have high-quality viewing experiences and seamless ad transitions watch longer. Using real-time insight, optimization and alerting, Video AdVantage protects the viewer from poor content and ad viewing experiences that result from an increasingly complicated video and ad ecosystem. Conviva is focused on not only ensuring content streams are of the highest quality, but also that the transition from content, through ad playback and back to content is smooth and optimized for each viewer. With Conviva’s Video AdVantage, content brands realize longer viewing times and reduced ad abandonment for both a better experience and improved monetization.

The Video AdVantage solution begins with real-time insight into what each viewer actually sees, giving content owners a vantage point to understand if the myriad of technologies, third parties, agencies and partners have all come together correctly at the second the viewer presses play. Through a combination of pre-emptive bit-rate adjustment, mid-stream switching, and engagement-centric decisions and alerting, viewers enjoy an uninterrupted, personalized HD experience that results in 40% longer viewing times and higher ad completion rates.

Video AdVantage provides:

- Actionable intelligence and stream adjustment automation to ensure a flawless and longer viewing experience,
- Real-time alerting and localization of failures and outages across the complete video and ad ecosystem,
- Ad performance information to expand inventory and optimize placement based on ad completion probabilities.

In March 2011 alone, more than 174 million people in the United States watched an average of 14.8 hours of online video content, according to recent data from comScore Video Metrix. Along with the explosive growth of viewers, online video ad spending continues to show tremendous growth. According to a forecast by Borrell Associates, Inc., online ad spending is expected to increase more than 60% from 2010 to $5.6 billion by year-end alone. A flawless and captivating video viewing experience, along with performance metrics, are paramount to the success of content owners and advertisers looking to access this rapidly growing opportunity.

“If you are unable to predict and act before quality of experience problems have an impact on your audience, video view times and ad completions, you are wasting valuable ad dollars,” said Darren Feher, CEO of Conviva. “Video AdVantage allows a crystal-clear view of the entire video and ad ecosystem and in turn allows your viewers a crystal-clear quality of experience. Conviva has the only solution that provides pre-emptive automation and cross-correlation between data sources, allowing for the greatest possible insight and intelligence. This visibility enables content owners to fine-tune their delivery strategy to retain current viewers, attract new viewers and generate additional advertising revenue.”

Video AdVantage provides a unique, metrics-based view into end-user quality of experience, viewer engagement and network performance. Armed with this data, service providers and content owners can make better decisions about all aspects of their online video businesses.

About Conviva

Conviva helps web video sites, media companies and carriers increase revenue and improve their relationship with viewers by increasing minutes watched and providing real-time information on viewed programming and ads that lead to more profitable video businesses. For more information please visit www.conviva.com.

AUSTIN, Texas – Invodo®, the only full-service eCommerce video partner for online retailers, announced a series of enhancements to the Invodo video player. The new player automatically adapts to device platform standards, including HTML5, and provides functionality for sharing eCommerce video via social media and email channels.

As consumers increasingly shop on devices ranging from PCs to smartphones to iPads, retailers must ensure that their video platform is able to deliver to those customers. Invodo’s latest version of the InPlayer supports both Flash and HTML5. Consumers who shop on an iPad, iPhone or Android-based phone or tablet will be able to view Invodo video on retail sites in their device’s native Web browser. The player determines the standard required by each individual browser and delivers the appropriate video, optimized for that platform.

“Consumers simply want to be able to view videos on whichever devices they’re using, and these enhancements let retailers deliver that experience,” said Craig Wax, CEO of Invodo. “The latest version of the InPlayer allows retailers to easily expand the reach of video to mobile devices, tablets or whatever the consumer is using.”

The InPlayer also now enables consumers to share videos via Facebook, Twitter and email. Consumers who find a product video helpful can easily share it with their friends and followers by clicking a sharing icon. This expands retailers’ reach and drives qualified traffic to their sites. According to Comscore, Facebook has become the second most popular video sharing site in the US. So allowing consumers to share video content will be a key objective as retailers launch or expand their video programs.

“Our focus with this release was on helping retailers get the most out of their video investment by simplifying the process for extending content to new devices and new channels,” continued Wax. “By making eCommerce video available at every point of consumer influence, retailers can significantly impact conversion rates. We’re making that easy for them to accomplish.”

The player seamlessly integrates with all the elements of Invodo’s full-service eCommerce video solution, including the platform and video syndication network. Retailers that work with Invodo will get all the technology and services necessary to create and implement high-quality video at scale and rapidly realize the benefits of increased conversion rates and decreased product returns.

About Invodo

Invodo helps online retailers sell more through the power of video. A full-service eCommerce video solution, Invodo creates high-quality product video at scale and develops retail-focused technology to influence consumers where it matters most. Invodo videos increase sales conversion rates, reduce returns and drive site traffic for customers, including Internet 500 retailers and major brands such as Golfsmith, Magellan’s, Verizon Wireless, Moosejaw and Lenovo.

Company expanding quickly, reports 50% growth in customer base over past six months and 95% customer retention

NEW YORK – Netmining, a leading provider of audience targeting solutions, announced it has extended its targeting capabilities to include video. Reckitt Benckiser is the first advertiser to utilize Netmining’s audience targeting capabilities for video—the global CPG company worked directly with Netmining to develop and refine the solution.

“As video becomes more integrated into the online environment, we’ve pushed boundaries to connect with consumers using a more interactive medium and leveraged it throughout our advertising strategy,” said Shawn Gasparini, Manager of Digital Marketing for Reckitt Benckiser North America. “Online video is particularly effective for our CPG brands as it allows us to not only engage with our audience through unique creative, but do so in conjunction with our offline buys. Netmining has helped us identify innovative ways to use video and targeting capabilities by intimately understanding what’s needed from a brand perspective.”

Netmining’s audience targeting solutions increase conversions and revenue generated from display, email and a marketer’s website. The company’s real-time profiling engine understands individuals’ interests and buying propensity, and enables brands to deliver highly relevant and personalized interactions across the entire customer lifecycle. By leveraging Netmining’s scoring and audience profiling capabilities in video placements, brands can further tie traditional marketing efforts to online initiatives, reaching consumers with increasingly interactive creative through video.

“We’ve seen an escalating demand for better audience targeting within video as it becomes a more important part of the marketing mix,” said Dean Vegliante, General Manager at Netmining. “With the addition of video to our audience and retargeting solutions, marketers can now take advantage of Netmining’s proprietary engine and deep insights to maximize their video advertising efforts. Since the introduction of Netmining to the U.S. market almost a year ago, we’ve seen significant customer growth and unparalleled retention rates, fueled by the performance of our solutions as well as our continual commitment to innovation.”

The new capabilities come on the heels of impressive company growth, as Netmining has seen a 50 percent increase in its customer base over the last six months, with a 95 percent customer retention rate. In addition to Reckitt Benckiser, other Netmining advertisers include Audi, Lord & Taylor, Jones Apparel Group, Borders, Red Roof Inn and some of the world’s largest digital advertising agencies such as Mindshare, OMD and Zenith Optimedia.

About Netmining

Netmining is a global provider of audience targeting solutions that are proven to increase conversion rates across websites, online advertising, email programs and offline sales channels. With a real-time audience profiling engine that understands each individual’s interests and buying propensity, Netmining enables companies to deliver highly relevant and personalized interactions across the entire customer lifecycle. Netmining solutions are used by marketers, system integrators and agencies across Europe, Asia and North America. Current customers include Hertz, Lord & Taylor, Jones Apparel Group, Audi, Electronic Arts, Mindshare, OMD, Neo@Ogilvy, Singer Direct, Morpheus Media, Zenith Optimedia and more.

More information can be found at http://www.netmining.com/ or on Twitter @Netmining.

Netmining is a member of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Network Advertising Initiative (NAI).

NEW YORK – Dailymotion, the second largest Web video site in the world, and a market leader in Europe, continues its expansion in the US as major advertisers such as P&G and Red Bull sign on. Dailymotion has over 13 million monthly unique visitors as of May 2010 in the US alone, and 64 million for the Dailymotion global network (source: comScore MediaMetrix).

Dailymotion’s US sales team secured a slate of new advertisers including P&G, Frito Lay, ABC Television, EA Games, Red Bull, Bristol Myers Squibb, Microsoft and Gillette. These and other leading brands are turning to Dailymotion for scalable pre-roll advertising in a quality curated environment with high reach branded video entertainment distribution and high impact homepage integrations.

Dailymotion’s curated approach combines premium content with high quality independent community content. Premium partners include EMI, Warner Music Group, Viacom and Hulu. Dailymotion also continues to be the preferred exclusive launch platform for high quality independent content such as the Batman fan film, City of Scars.

“Advertisers are increasingly interested in our quality environment and viral capabilities,” said Joy Marcus, General Manager of Dailymotion US.” And we continue to attract a larger and larger audience in the US with our high quality content, beautifully curated site and best in class viewing and sharing capabilities.”

Dailymotion’s website and player are optimized for sharing across social networks and video platforms, including Phone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android apps as well as over the top TV platforms.

About Dailymotion

As one of the leading sites for sharing videos, Dailymotion’s network of sites attracts 64 million unique monthly visitors and one billion videos views worldwide (source: comScore, May 2010). Dailymotion offers the best content from users, independent content creators and premium partners. Using the most advanced technology for both users and content creators, Dailymotion provides high-quality and HD video in a fast, easy-to-use website that also automatically filters infringing material as notified by content owners. Offering 19 localized versions, Dailymotion’s mission is to provide the best possible entertainment experience for users and the best marketing opportunities for advertisers, while respecting content protection. www.dailymotion.com.

“‘How To’ content is experiencing exponential growth that can be seen in the dramatic increase in users consuming sites such as eHow.com, one of the seven popular Demand Media properties. This site alone attracts over 61MM people seeking answers in areas of personal interest from Arts and Entertainment, to Electronics, to Health and Travel,” said Nick Higgins, Director of Global Video for Adconion Media Group. “Demand Media has an acute understanding of their audience needs just as Joost has an acute understanding of our audience behavior. This exciting partnership symbolizes the future of content creation and monetization that will benefit both users and advertisers.”

By joining forces, the Joost Video Network will be able to present Demand Media’s growing global audience to its premium brand partners around the world through audience and vertical channel sales packages. As a part of this agreement, Demand Media will leverage the Adconion video ad serving platform to deliver all premium video campaigns sold by the Demand Media sales force as well as deliver network advertising pre-roll inventory to the Joost Video Advertising Network. As part of this partnership, Adconion will exclusively provide the Adconion video technology platform to power all of Demand Media’s in-stream video advertising needs, including trafficking, optimization, and reporting. The Joost video platform delivers millions of in-stream video ads to millions of targeted end users. Joost offers the technology and the targeting needed to comprehensively monetize Demand Media’s in-stream video advertising opportunities.

“Joost was the obvious choice for two reasons. Firstly, its end-to-end distribution and ad serving platform and secondly their ability to monetize our video inventory by leveraging their impressive Global Sales Force,” said Jeff Quandt, Director of Ad Management for Demand Media. “The Joost premium advertisers, complemented with our extensive and growing audience seeking out video content on Demand Media properties, are a natural match.”

Collectively, Demand Media’s award-winning portfolio of owned and operated media brands make it possible for more than 80 million people each month to engage in conversations and form passionate communities around topics of shared interest. A comScore top 20 (U.S.) network, Demand Media has created a diverse and wide-reaching portfolio of sites, including golflink.com, eHow.com, LIVESTRONG.com, Mania.com, Cracked.com and Trails.com

About the Joost Video Network and Joost.com

Joost is a fully owned subsidiary of Adconion Media Group (www.adconion.com).

DoubleVerified and iASH compliant, the Joost Video Network is a complete suite of online video advertising products and services, including in-banner and in-stream video advertising. The Joost Video Network provides the reach and quality of a video portal with the scale and efficiency of a network.

The Joost Video Network leverages Adconion’s heritage of a global audience network to provide massive scale and expert targeting, including the ability to target both pre-roll and in-banner campaigns with BlueKai data.

Joost.com provides professionally-produced online video content to a global audience. Working with content copyright owners, Joost collects and curates thousands of videos to provide online viewers with a wide selection of music, TV, movies and more.

NEW YORK – ADTECH, a leading provider of ad serving technology and part of AOL Advertising, has announced that its ad serving solution now complies with the IAB’s (Interactive Advertising Bureau) expanded VAST 2.0 video standards. The objective of VAST is to manage, target and report on online video advertising running via a third-party ad server, as is currently being done for banner advertising. ADTECH implemented the VAST 1.0 into its technology in early October 2008. Now that the update to VAST 2.0 is complete, ADTECH’s ad servers support both standards.

ADTECH CEO Dirk Freytag emphasizes his company’s standardization efforts: “For us it is a given that we are involved in the development of standards and that we expeditiously implement them into practical applications once they become available. Video ads already make up over five percent of the ads we deliver globally. We are closing more and more accounts whose video ad impression volume is growing, in keeping with the industry.” He adds: “In this growth market, standards are the best foundation to generate trust, transparency and more technical choices.”

The IAB published the expanded video standards under the name VAST 2.0 in the United States at the end of 2009. This was preceded by several months of discussion of the standards by leading technology providers, such as ADTECH. In the past three months, ADTECH’s video product team has worked hard to adapt the communication and data exchange between ad servers and video players to meet the new standards. ADTECH’s clients are using players such as the Brightcove 3, JW players, flow players and Ooyala.

A detailed description of the VAST standard can be downloaded from the IAB website (www.iab.net).

About ADTECH

ADTECH is an international supplier of digital marketing solutions and is AOL Advertising’s ad serving platform. The company’s flagship product is an integrated ad server solution that enables web publishers, ad networks, agencies and advertisers to manage, serve and evaluate virtually any kind of online advertising campaign including display, video and mobile formats. ADTECH’s solution differentiates itself from the competition through its scalable, enterprise-class infrastructure and user-friendly tools, providing users with increased efficiency, reliability and ROI for their online advertising business. ADTECH customers include major players like BSkyB, Hi-media, Gannett and Fox Networks. ADTECH AG is a wholly-owned subsidiary of AOL Inc.

About AOL

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings.

SAN FRANCISCO – Episodic, Inc., an emerging online video platform provider, unveiled a solution for inserting mid-roll advertising into live streaming content. With the Episodic Live Ad Manager, live event producers can easily insert standard ad units delivered by Episodic or any of the major ad servers directly into live online broadcasts. This technology signals a major shift in the revenue potential for live events, opening up doors for significant monetization opportunities in delivering live video on the web.

“This unique technology opens up a new pool of ad inventory for publishers and allows them to maximize revenue from their live events,” said Matias Cudich, VP Product Management at Episodic. “Publishers often simulcast their television broadcasts to the Web with ads and all. Although these publishers are broadcasting the same commercials twice, once on television and then again on the Web, oftentimes they are not paid twice for these advertisements. Now with Episodic, publishers can simulcast their broadcasts online and open up a new pool of ad inventory that their online ad sales teams can sell against.”

With this innovation, Episodic is offering programmers and cable operators a real-time, multi-platform ad campaign management and decision system for delivering timely and relevant ads during live streaming sessions. Ad placement for a live event may be pre-programmed or inserted manually from the Episodic Live Ad Manager.

A Customized Viewing Experience

Rather than mixing the advertisement into the actual video stream, Episodic sends a command to the video player, which responds by playing the right advertisement at the appropriate moment in the live stream, as dictated by the director of the live event. When there is a break in the action, a call is made to an ad server and delivered flawlessly, without any stutters or buffering, ensuring a television-like experience online. Because the ad is not actually mixed into the live content feed, ads may be served from remote ad servers and localized to the viewer. For example, fans in Brazil may see one advertisement during a live event while fans in France see another.

This technology is not limited to advertising and can be used to create a more dynamic and engaging viewing experience. For instance, a producer may add content during the live stream to indicate that a player has just scored a touchdown. That content can then be sent to the Episodic player which would react by bringing up instant highlight reels from the last five touchdowns the player scored. These sorts of dynamic experiences where the video player reacts in real-time to the action in the frame are unique to the web and essential for driving viewer adoption and monetization of live web video.

Episodic is now offering dynamic live ad insertion as a standard component of the Episodic Publishing Platform. Episodic continues to extend its lead as the only online video platform that allows content publishers to manage and monetize both live and on-demand video from a single application.

About Episodic, Inc.

The Episodic publishing platform enables the broadcast of live and on-demand video to any web site, mobile phone or Internet connected device. With Episodic, content producers are able to push video to their web properties, showcase content via social networks, and even build custom branded iPhone applications around their media. Episodic spans the video value chain, providing everything publishers need to manage, measure and monetize their content. Episodic is based in San Francisco, CA and is privately held.

SAN MATEO, Calif. – Jivox, the online video advertising service that helps small and medium-sized businesses reach local customers, unveiled a new metric to help advertisers gauge the effectiveness of their online video ads. The Jivox “Video Engagement Score”, introduced as part of the Jivox 4.0 product release, measures all viewer interactions with an online video ad and assigns a value to the ad relative to the performance of all the ads in the Jivox Publisher Network.

The Video Engagement Score is a new approach to measuring the effectiveness of online video campaigns that goes beyond the traditional click-through standard used to measure search and display ads. The Engagement Score takes into account the richness of video ads and, for the first time, the multiple interactions a consumer has with an online video ad, and assigns a value to those interactions to provide advertisers deeper insight into an ad’s total performance. Ads are “scored” by comparing their performance to that of other ads on the Jivox Publisher Network.

“By introducing new interactivity features into Jivox ads, we now have the opportunity to go beyond click-throughs to measure ad performance,” said Diaz Nesamoney, CEO of Jivox. “Online video already has the greatest potential to engage the viewer due to its inherent entertainment value. Until now, it was difficult to measure the engagement value of a video ad. Advertisers can now use our interactivity features and the Video Engagement Score along with our self-service capabilities to test and improve the performance of campaigns, thus improving their overall ROI on video advertising.”

The Engagement Score is calculated as the total viewer interactions weighted by response priority and divided by the total views. The result is then normalized to fit within a range of 0-100 and adjusted such that the median of Engagement Scores across all active Jivox campaigns with more than 15,000 views in the Jivox Publisher Network is 50.

San Mateo, California (PRWeb) January 21, 2009 – Jivox, the online video advertising service that helps small and medium-sized businesses reach local customers, today announced continued momentum over the past quarter as more companies discover the power of online video ads to attract local customers.  In Q4 of 2008, Jivox doubled its customer base and number of registered users from the previous quarter and reported four-fold revenue growth.  Jivox also tripled the number of ad views served on the Jivox Video Ad Network in this quarter.

Summary of key milestones in Q4:

Customer growth: Jivox doubled both its customer base and its registered users.
Revenue growth: Jivox achieved four-fold revenue growth.
Ad views: Jivox tripled the number of ad views served on the Jivox Video Ad Network.
New product features: Jivox released a number of new product features to extend the value of customers’ online video ads, including the ability to embed videos on a web site and upload videos to sharing sites like YouTube and local directories such as Local.com.
New partners: Jivox’s signed major partnership agreements with companies like Examiner.com, operator of a network of 60 local insider information Web sites; PixelFish, a leading provider of affordable and effective custom video ad solutions; and BigAdda, a leading youth networking web site in India
New brand customers: Jivox engaged with large brand customers for its subsidiary Jivox India, including LG, Sony and Nokia.

“While brand advertising overall has suffered in the face of the economic downturn, investment in online video advertising campaigns has never been stronger, as companies look for new, more cost-effective ways to promote their businesses online.  Online video has proven itself as a significantly more accountable and cost-effective form of advertising than many traditional forms of advertising,” said Diaz Nesamoney, CEO of Jivox. “We think 2009 is going to be the year online video advertising goes mainstream and makes significant inroads into the world of online advertising, to become a de facto format every business will use to reach customers.”

Jivox offers a do-it-yourself local online video advertising service, combining video ad creation tools, proprietary targeting technology and an extensive network of premium local publishers to help companies easily develop high-impact online video advertising campaigns. The Jivox Publisher Network has grown to include over 650 local TV, radio and newspaper websites across the country and now reaches more than 60 million unique viewers.

About Jivox
Jivox helps small businesses reach customers with online video advertising.  Jivox provides advertisers with an online, self-service tool to create high-impact video ads using stock footage, images, music or their existing video assets.  Jivox ensures high-quality placement of customer ads through the Jivox Publisher Network, a locally focused network of premium publishers that includes hundreds of local TV and radio stations, newspapers,  weather and other specialty websites, and offers geographic ad targeting at the city level as well as demographic and contextual targeting. Jivox is a privately held company based in San Mateo, Calif.  For more information about Jivox, please visit www.jivox.com.

San Mateo, California (PRWEB) – October 6, 2008 – Jivox, the online video advertising service that helps small and medium-sized businesses reach local customers, today announced that Jivox AdSlate 3.0, the latest version of its online video ad platform, is now live. Jivox combines a self-service video ad creation tool, proprietary targeting technology, sophisticated reporting capabilities and an extensive network of premium local publishers to offer advertisers a complete service for local online video advertising. Jivox AdSlate 3.0 builds on the success of earlier versions with more robust ad creation tools, expanded distribution methods, greater ease-of-use and improved behind-the-scenes targeting to help companies develop high-impact online video advertising campaigns.

Key new features of Jivox AdSlate 3.0 include:

Advanced Ad Creation
Jivox now supports the creation of very polished and sophisticated ads at no cost to the user. The new version provides more advanced editing capabilities while preserving the simplicity of earlier versions of the service.

* Multiple text overlays on both video and billboard ad styles, multiple still images inside the video clip and multi-image billboard ads
* Higher-performance ad composition for distribution to a wider variety of websites and reduced loading time
* Video resizing capability to allow overlay text to be on a custom-color background
* Timeline controls, with all still images, logos, audio and text arranged on a timeline

New Ad Distribution Methods
In addition to distribution of ads on websites that are part of the Jivox Publisher Network, Jivox has now added several ways by which advertisers can distribute their video ads. These services are available at no additional charge for advertisers who run a paid website campaign with Jivox .

* Local search campaigns, with video ad placements on Google Maps, YellowPages.com, GetFave and other local search directories. Local search placement enables ads to be found by users who are looking for the product or service and therefore have a high propensity for purchasing,
* Viral campaign capabilities, with point-and-click uploading to video sharing sites like YouTube. Viral campaigns enable wide distribution of video ads and often will be viewed and embedded at various sites across the web resulting in great exposure to the advertiser’s products and services
* Embedding of video ads on customer’s own website. This capability enables advertisers to embed video ads on the web site so users to their site can learn about and see the product or service being offered.

Greater Ease of Use

* Redesigned, simplified interface that streamlines the process of ad creation while providing advanced ad-creation capabilities
* One-click preview for editing on a larger scale and then previewing of the ad in its actual size
* Ample online help and tutorials

Improved Targeting and Optimization and Placement

* Support for automatic tagging of video ads for use in contextual targeting
* Improved campaign targeting algorithms resulting in higher click through rates
* Expansion of the Jivox network to now include more than 600 local newspaper, television, radio and weather sites, enabling more precise local targeting

“The tremendous success Jivox has seen since our launch earlier this year has more than validated the need for a DIY approach to online video ads,” said Diaz Nesamoney, CEO of Jivox. “Now with Jivox AdSlate 3.0, we’ve made it easier than ever for small businesses to create and distribute local video ads that get results.”

One Jivox customer who is seeing results is New Lifestyle Diet, an online service that enables customers to get weight loss advice, interact with a personal lifestyle coach and weight loss buddies and order healthy meals for home delivery. New Lifestyle Diet turned to Jivox to develop a cost-effective series of online video ads. The message and images in the video ads targeted New Lifestyle Diet’s core group of potential customers, women aged 25-48, and communicated New Lifestyle Diet’s approach to dieting in a fun and engaging way. The ads were distributed to a geo-targeted audience in the Jivox Publisher Network, which reaches over 55 million unique visitors. Within a month of launching the video ads, New Lifestyle Diet began seeing a surge in website visits and an impressive jump in new sign-ups.

“Jivox is incredibly easy to use and the company offered personalized support,” said Hamilton Erridge, CEO of New Lifestyle Diet. “Jivox really worked with us to understand our advertising needs, our target audience and our key messages. Jivox has put our small company on a more level playing field with bigger competitors, helping us compete head-to-head with massive brands like Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig.”

“Getting video ads in front of targeted local audiences is where much of the value will lie for small businesses,” said Michael Boland, senior analyst, The Kelsey Group. “Jivox has an interesting approach in this respect, given that it is pushing video out into an ad network of local destination sites.”

About Jivox

Jivox helps small businesses reach customers with online video advertising. Jivox provides advertisers with an online, self-service tool to create high-impact video ads using stock footage, images, music or their existing video assets. Jivox ensures high-quality placement of customer ads through the Jivox Publisher Network, a locally focused network of premium publishers that includes hundreds of local TV and radio stations, newspapers, weather and other specialty websites, and offers geographic ad targeting at the city level as well as demographic and contextual targeting. Jivox is a privately held company based in San Mateo, Calif. For more information about Jivox, please visit www.jivox.com.

SEATTLE & NEW YORK – Mixpo, an online video advertising company dedicated to serving the small and medium-size business (SMB) market and Comcast Spotlight, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable, today announced an agreement that will enable Comcast Spotlight to turn clients’ existing on-air video advertising assets into online video advertising units, using Mixpo’s patent-pending platform. Now, local advertising clients in Comcast Cable markets across the country can take advantage of Comcast’s online advertising opportunities, including placement of online video ads in standard display ad areas on Comcast.net, a top U.S. Website and the portal for more than 14.6 million High-Speed Internet subscribers, or Vehix.com, a leading automotive portal owned by Comcast.

Comcast Spotlight’s ad sales professionals will be utilizing Mixpo-powered services to make online advertising and its benefits, including improved lead capture and conversion, more accessible to advertisers of all sizes in nearly 90 markets.

Until recently, online video advertising has been focused mostly on monetizing content for the benefit of larger advertisers with pre- or post-roll ad creative. Now, Comcast Spotlight can leverage Mixpo’s platform to monetize and expand online display ad inventory for small and mid-sized advertisers. The local online video market is growing rapidly: The Kelsey Group’s U.S. Local Video Forecast (2007-2012), projects that local online video ad revenues will increase to US$1.5 billion by the end of 2012—representing 11.6% of their online budgets.

“We look forward to working with Mixpo and offering the SMB market more effective and efficient marketing solutions in online video advertising with accountability and tracking,” said Tom Straszewski, Comcast Spotlight’s Senior Director of Online Sales. “We are experts in tailoring advertising to our clients’ unique marketing needs, and this demonstrates our commitment to meeting these needs in the expanding digital media landscape.”

“We are very excited to be working with Comcast Spotlight to bring the power of online video advertising to local advertisers and leveraging their extensive online reach,” said Anupam Gupta, Mixpo President and CEO.

The recently-launched Mixpo platform consists of five integrated components, including:

* The VideoAd, a dynamic video advertising player that will play in 300×250 standard IAB units on Comcast properties and delivers high-quality video AND direct response lead generation capability.
* The Studio, where companies can easily create high-quality VideoAds from existing video, photo, and audio files, from a broad range of stock media options;
* Ad Rotation, which allows companies to test and compare different versions of a VideoAd for effectiveness;
* The Dashboard, where clients measure how a VideoAd is performing by tracking the number of impressions and views, play-through and conversion, viewers’ geographic locations, and referring sites;
* Automatically generated landing pages for each VideoAd, providing the search terms and other meta data to maximize exposure to more than 100 video sites powered by a range of search engines, including Google, Yahoo, and Blinkx.

About Mixpo

Mixpo is an online video advertising company dedicated to providing the local small and medium-size business (SMB) market with technology-based products that are both easy to use and effective in driving results. Through its pioneering online video advertising platform, Mixpo enables local publishers, interactive directories and local search marketing companies to easily and affordably create, deploy, and optimize online video ads that drive measurable results and fuel more effective marketing campaigns for their clients. The company’s turnkey Mixpo-To-Go channel program gives partners the flexibility to private-label the Mixpo platform, and easily integrate it into their advertising portfolios. For more information visit: http://www.mixpo.com.

About Comcast Spotlight

Comcast Spotlight, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable, helps put the power of cable to use for local, regional and national advertisers. It is focused on providing multi-platform marketing solutions to reach audiences most effectively and efficiently. Headquartered in New York with offices throughout the country, Comcast Spotlight has a presence in nearly 90 markets with approximately 30 million owned and represented subscribers. Comcast Spotlight is a trademark of Comcast Cable. For more information, visit www.comcastspotlight.com.

San Mateo, California (PRWEB) – August 6, 2008 – Smaller advertisers are beginning to use simple online video ads, tagged and indexed for search engine pickup, to connect with local audiences. The question is: how can small companies create the most effective video ads on a budget?

Jivox, a self-service online video advertising platform for local businesses, suggests that companies follow these simple strategies to create online video ads that generate results:

• Keep it simple. Simple, concise ads work best online for two reasons: viewers don’t want to read large volumes of text on their computer screen; and the online environment in which your ad will appear will already have a lot going on visually. To stand out, your ad needs to be clean and concise.

• Get to the point. Research shows that people decide if they want to read more about a topic on a website in 8 seconds or less. Ads that contain specific, immediate benefits, such as a promotion or discount, resonate strongly.

• Be smart about text. If you have a lot of text, you may need to vary the size of the type to allow it to fit into the ad space. If so, Jivox recommends no more than two type sizes in one ad, with the largest type size on top. Also, never use more than two fonts and avoid using all caps.

• Use relevant visuals. The visuals in a video ad should be eye catching but, more importantly, they should also communicate a relevant message. Clean, simple graphics are more likely to catch the eye of the viewer.

• Test and re-test. Video is such a flexible medium that it pays to experiment with different creative, formats and messages to find the combination that works the best. Set aside a portion of your budget to test different approaches so that you can see how response rates fluctuate when you change the visuals, call-to-action, price points or add a promotional offer.

“Whether you’re a new advertiser looking to get started, or a marketing agency coaching your clients on best practices in video advertising, keeping these simple tips in mind will help you develop online video ads that get results,” said Diaz Nesamoney, CEO of Jivox.

About Jivox

Jivox, the self-service online video advertising service for local businesses, gives smaller and local advertisers access to online video advertising by making it easy to create, target and deliver online video ads. The Jivox platform combines a video ad creation tool, proprietary targeting technology, sophisticated reporting capabilities and a growing network of publishers to offer advertisers a complete, do-it-yourself service for online video advertising. Jivox is a privately held company based in San Mateo, Calif. For more information about Jivox, please visit www.jivox.com.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — July 8, 2008 — Smaller businesses have quickly come to understand that if they want to be part of the rapidly expanding world of online video and television advertising, they need to be very innovative in creating and distributing ads in ways that maximize limited advertising budgets. Several early adopters have already discovered an easy and inexpensive new way to test the television waters: creating ads with SpotMixer (www.SpotMixer.com) — either from scratch or by using assets from radio or online video ads they’ve already created — and distributing them via the Google TV Ads™ program.

SpotMixer offers any business on a budget options to create and distribute their own TV ads. They can either go directly to SpotMixer.com to create a new ad, or if they prefer, they can submit a request for a project bid through Google’s TV Ad Creation Marketplace, which is accessible through an advertiser’s Google AdWords™ account interface. After collaborating with SpotMixer to produce a television ad at an affordable package cost, marketers can then work directly with Google’s simple and efficient online interface to place the ad. Advertisers can upload their ad to the Google TV Ads program; select the dayparts, programs and channels on which they want their ad distributed; set a budget; and view detailed tracking and measurement reports to analyze the performance of their ad once it runs. For more information, visit http://www.google.com/adwords/tvads.

To stretch their ad budgets further, customers can also use SpotMixer to re-purpose components from radio or online video ads they’ve already created, and incorporate them into new television spots. For example, audio from a previously created radio ad can be reused and modified into a television ad by simply adding video, photography and text elements. Of the SpotMixer customers who have created television ads, all of them have used existing assets from other ads, and 80% of them have used audio originally created for a radio ad as the voice-over component. SpotMixer’s easy-to-use tools guide users through the entire process, eliminating the need to re-do creative they already own and like. The average television ad takes less than 30 minutes to create from start to finish. And, businesses can “try before they buy,” since SpotMixer offers them unlimited free ad creation on the SpotMixer site.

Pat Holman, an entrepreneur in Pleasant Grove, Utah, who is launching a teleconferencing service called ParleyConnect.com, discovered SpotMixer through the Google TV Ads’ Ad Creation Marketplace, and quickly recognized the opportunity to inexpensively turn a radio ad he’d already made into a television spot to test on national TV. “I found out how much buying television ads through a media buyer can cost, and knew this would be the only way I could get in to the television environment,” said Holman. “I’m not a creative person, but SpotMixer made the tools simple enough that I was even impressed with myself. For ParleyConnect, I could pick out a template and add photos and video that matched the feel of the radio ad. SpotMixer is appealing because I’m new at this, and if a particular ad doesn’t work, I can quickly and easily change parts of it and test it in a broadcast environment inexpensively. Since SpotMixer charges one monthly fee, I can experiment with as many ads as I want. It gives you more control over your destiny.”

The SpotMixer Platform for business is based on One True Media’s groundbreaking self-service video creation and distribution technology — the leading online video creation software used by millions of consumers to produce and share professional-quality online video. SpotMixer offers step-by-step tools that enable any business to produce its own professional-quality ads and distribute them to targeted audiences with just a few clicks. For example, advertisers can upload and mix their own videos and photos, incorporate licensed music from SpotMixer’s extensive music library, and utilize a range of industry-appropriate templates, audio mixing, and call-to-action tools provided by SpotMixer without investing in expensive and resource-draining video production ventures. Designed specifically for the needs of small and medium businesses, SpotMixer is the answer for marketers who want to take advantage of this more effective means of reaching consumers online, via radio, and now, through television ads.

“SpotMixer’s strategic vision is to make all kinds of advertising — online, radio and television — as easy and affordable as possible, giving smaller enterprises just as great a chance to be successful with television ads as larger companies with big budgets to outsource their ads,” said Mark Moore, CEO of One True Media, which owns and operates SpotMixer. “We firmly believe SpotMixer has the best and most comprehensive tool set to allow any size business to enter the TV ad environment quickly and affordably. We’re also very excited to work with Google to help advertisers reach their target markets using Google TV Ads’ cost-efficient and measurable distribution and reporting platform.”
About SpotMixer

SpotMixer, a service of One True Media, helps small and medium sized businesses cost-effectively join the online video marketing revolution by offering tools for online video and TV ad creation, distribution and analytics. The first and most respected name in Web-based video creation for consumers, One True Media has leveraged its Web-based technology and marketing expertise to launch the service, which lets business customers easily self-produce, distribute and measure the effectiveness of online video ads. SpotMixer has built sophistication, creative capabilities and ease of use into its platform, with a simple, yet comprehensive template that allows business owners to make professional quality video ads with just a few clicks. SpotMixer is headquartered in Redwood City, CA. For more information about SpotMixer, please visit www.SpotMixer.com.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — May 1, 2008—SpotMixer (www.SpotMixer.com), an innovator in online video advertising, today announced it has launched a video ad creation tool that allows any business, on any budget, to join the video ad revolution. A service of One True Media, SpotMixer has leveraged award-winning consumer video technology to offer merchants, online listings services and agencies a set of online video advertising solutions that enable businesses to easily create and distribute their own ads. By introducing two channels of service—a direct-to-business offering and the SpotMixer Platform for business partners—SpotMixer eliminates the barriers to online video advertising by making it affordable, approachable, and measurable.

Designed specifically for the needs of small and medium businesses, the SpotMixer Platform is based on One True Media’s groundbreaking self-service video creation and distribution technology—the leading online video creation software used by millions of consumers to produce and share online video. SpotMixer offers tools that enable any business to self-produce professional-quality video ads and distribute them to targeted audiences with just a few clicks. Using the SpotMixer platform gives online listings companies and other partners the ability to offer merchants instant online presence via several options: seamless integration for merchant-created ads; automatically generated ads; and back-end video production capabilities for agencies and other ad creators.

“SpotMixer’s vision is to do for online video advertising what One True Media has done for online video montage creation: offer an easy, fast and affordable means for businesses to produce ads that rank with those created by corporate agencies and production studios,” said Chief Executive Officer Mark Moore. “Our top-tier partners and distribution channels combined with our easy-to-use ad creation let small- and medium-sized businesses get into the online video ad game, allow online listings companies to quickly populate their sites with video ads, and provide tools for agencies to help their clients create professional-quality ads on a budget.”

SpotMixer’s intuitive video creation tools enable businesses to create ads by uploading and mixing their own videos and photos, incorporating licensed music from SpotMixer’s extensive music library. A range of industry-appropriate templates, audio mixing, and video editing tools help businesses produce targeted, professional-quality video ads without investing in expensive and resource-draining video production ventures.

For its partners, which include online listings services and small agencies, SpotMixer offers several options to create and publish video ads. The first is an integration service: SpotMixer will offer its “white label” platform to listings companies’ merchants, who can come to a SpotMixer site, create an ad, and post it on the listings service site. Second, SpotMixer works with listings companies to auto-generate ads using SpotMixer’s library of stock photos, video, music and other elements, customized and offered to each merchant. Third, SpotMixer will license its tools to agencies and other companies to create ads on behalf of its clients, and to act as a reseller for SpotMixer via a “white label” program where merchants can create ads using the Platform on the agencies’ site. SpotMixer has already signed a major listings service for a white label program, which will be announced in June 2008.

“My agency has been hoping for a simple solution to the online video ad challenge and SpotMixer is the answer,” said Frank Lucero, chief executive of Adfare, a Los Angeles-based agency specializing in online video ad creation for clients including the McClatchy, Scripps, Tribune Interactive and Gannett newspaper groups. “This market is poised for fantastic growth, and to be part of it, I need to partner with the best service. I’ve looked at the other offerings and they simply don’t compare to SpotMixer. Together we can promote our strengths and achieve great results.”

About SpotMixer

SpotMixer, a service of One True Media, helps small- and medium-sized businesses cost-effectively join the online video marketing revolution by offering tools for online video ad creation, distribution and analytics. The first and most respected name in Web-based video creation for consumers, One True Media has leveraged its Web-based technology and marketing expertise to launch the service, which lets business customers easily self-produce, distribute and measure the effectiveness of online video ads. SpotMixer has built sophistication, creative capabilities and ease of use into its platform, with a simple yet comprehensive template that allows business owners to make professional quality video ads with just a few clicks. SpotMixer is headquartered in Redwood City, CA. For more information about SpotMixer, please visit www.SpotMixer.com.

EMERYVILLE, CA –March 19, 2008 – Exponential™ Interactive, Inc., the technology-driven media services company that delivers innovative products and services to meet the demands of advertisers and publishers, today released research about buyer perceptions of online video advertising. In an unprecedented industry move, Exponential employed a research study of 100 premier advertising agency media planners and buyers to better understand the barriers to buying and delivering video ads on the Internet.

Exponential’s research revealed several significant findings, most notably, the difference between those who have and have not purchased online video. Experience buying video changes perceptions of the format greatly — those who have purchased and run online video campaigns are most concerned with operational issues and the smooth delivery of campaigns. Those who have not yet bought appear to be questioning the end user’s overall experience.

“As a leader in online advertising, it is incumbent upon us to understand the thinking around buying online video. This research confirms the complexity of executing an online video buy at scale, and reveals many of the challenges the industry still needs to resolve in order to effectively support advertisers,” said Dilip DaSilva, Exponential’s founder and CEO. “The insights reveal opportunities for new innovation, as well as the need for standardization and education to meet the demands of the marketplace and advance the industry overall.”

Additional conclusions from the research:

* Pre-roll still remains the dominant, most commonly used format. Buyers do not perceive it as too intrusive, as some have reported.
* High prices for top tier video placements, often cited as a barrier, are a distant concern behind content quality, targeting capabilities, branding opportunities and reporting.
* Despite the buzz about the lack of standardization in online video metrics, those who have bought online video on average use three types of measurement: unique viewers who viewed ads, clicks/cost per click and length of time spent viewing ads. They report satisfaction with these metrics.

This research also provides insights into how agencies can leverage video, and what providers need to do to make the buying experience easier. Additionally, the detailed data compiled in Exponential’s study produced a consensus among advertisers about the need to create standards for online video advertising. Standards for buying, creating and measuring online video ads are essential to industry growth, removing barriers to widespread adoption of video as part of the online marketing mix.

Exponential employed third-party vendor, iModerate®, to conduct the online survey using a hybrid interviewing technique to collect qualitative and quantitative data. There were 100 completed surveys and several dozen chats conducted with advertising/media agency executives who met the following criteria:

* Their advertising or media agency must be involved in online/interactive advertising
* Their company must have online media department and respondent must be part of the department
* Must be the decision maker/participate in a decision in regards to purchasing media for online advertising campaigns
* 50 respondents have purchased/influenced the purchase of online video ads in the past 12 months

“The good news is that media planners who have tried online video as part of their campaigns have found it to be a valuable tool to reaching critical audiences. As an industry, we just need to make it possible for more people to try it,” DaSilva added.

According to eMarketer, video ad sales are expected to grow from an estimated $775 million in 2007 to $3.1 billion in 2010 and then to $4.3 billion in 2011. In addition, a Forrester Research study found that more than half of adults (53% of consumers 18 and older) say that they view online video.

About Exponential™ Interactive, Inc.

Exponential™ is a technology-driven media services company that delivers innovative products and services offering various types of digital marketing to meet the demands of advertisers and publishers. Representing over 1,500 of the key vertical publishers, and as the partner of choice for many of the world’s leading advertising agencies and advertisers for their online campaigns, the company offers a fully integrated suite of online advertising solutions, including brand and CPM advertising, performance marketing, lead generation, local search, online shopping portal and contextual solutions.

Each of Exponential’s businesses – Tribal Fusion®, FullTango™, LeadGenuity®, EchoTopic™ – brings state-of-the-art optimization technology and expertise, generating 30 billion online ad impressions per month, reaching 75% of the US Internet and 230 million consumers worldwide.

Exponential™ Interactive, Inc. is privately held and headquartered in Emeryville, CA and has offices throughout the United States and in London and India. For more information, please call 510.250.4018 or visit: http://www.exponential.com