San Francisco -Vizu Corporation (www.brand lift.com), an online ad technology company whose solutions allow advertisers and publishers to measure and optimize Brand Lift in real-time, today announced the launch of its “Value in Video” initiative. The program’s objective is to provide the industry with the ability to leverage in-stream, real-time testing of consumer sentiment wherever and however video is delivered, addressing one of the key challenges facing the growth of the medium – a fragmented landscape of video serving technologies.

As a first step in this initiative, Vizu also announced enhancements to its brand advertising effectiveness platform to fully support the VAST/VPAID standards developed by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), allowing anyone serving video inventory compliant with these standards to leverage Vizu’s in-stream capabilities to measure and optimize Brand Lift.

“Our broadcaster partners utilize a variety of players and online video platforms, so putting together an all-encompassing measurement methodology was a challenge,” says Joshua Iselin, Managing Director of TVN, Australia’s largest in-stream video network. “With Vizu now enabling Brand Lift measurement and optimization via VAST/VPAID compliant inventory, we have multiple options at our disposal. The ability to survey viewers in-stream is a major technological innovation – as a result we’ve seen incredibly high response rates, helping to alleviate an issue that plagues the industry. We are proud to be working with Vizu to pioneer in-stream video measurement and optimization.”

“If advertisers can’t measure the performance of video on the entire media plan, they’re not getting the full picture. VAST/VPAID were developed to meet that challenge, and to bring more confidence to video advertisers,” says Daryl McNutt, BrightRoll’s Senior Vice President of Research and Marketing. “BrightRoll is a major proponent of standards like these that help move the industry forward, and we’re happy to see partners like Vizu support them as well.”

Leading brands, agencies, ad networks, and publishers leverage Vizu’s Ad Catalyst solution, part of the company’s brand advertising effectiveness platform, to measure and optimize the effectiveness of online brand advertising efforts in real time. Ad Catalyst measures the Brand Lift generated by online advertising campaigns, replacing click-through rates with a much more appropriate metric for brand advertisers. As Brand Lift data is available in real time, it also enables in-market optimization of campaigns. Leveraging an intuitive dashboard, the contribution of different creative, messages, targeting, and frequency to overall campaign performance can quickly be evaluated and adjustments made that ensure both Brand Lift and return on advertising spend are maximized.

“We strongly believe in the value of video, and that it has the potential to accelerate the flow of brand advertising dollars online. We are thus investing to ensure the medium reaches its full potential,” says Dan Beltramo, CEO of Vizu. “We’re excited to announce our support of the VAST/VPAID standards, but aren’t stopping there – we will soon be announcing integrations with many leading video player technologies, ensuring our customers can measure and optimize their video efforts anytime, anywhere.”

Vizu Corporation (www.brandlift.com) brings the same metrics used to measure and optimize brand advertising effectiveness in the offline world to the online medium. By providing the first real-time, enterprise technology platform that allows brand advertisers and their partners in the digital media ecosystem – publishers, ad networks, exchanges, and demand side platforms – to collaborate around measuring and optimizing Brand Lift metrics, Vizu enables its customers to move their target audience through the purchase funnel, from building awareness to creating intent and preference.  Vizu’s brand advertising effectiveness platform is used by over 60% of Advertising Age’s Top 100 Brand Advertisers and Comscore’s Top 50 Media properties to support all key aspects of the advertising lifecycle, including media buying, audience profiling, and Brand Lift optimization.

NEW YORK – ADTECH, AOL Advertising’s global ad serving platform, announced the launch of an expanded online video advertising solution. With research showing that U.S. Internet users viewed more than 30 billion videos online this past April alone1, ADTECH’s online video product has been enhanced to meet the growing customer demand to manage, traffic and report on online video advertising campaigns.

“Our expanded video solution is a powerful tool for marketers. Its streamlined workflow monetizes video advertising to determine the right combination for video and display placements and, ultimately, bolster revenue,” said Dirk Freytag, president of ADTECH and head of AOL Advertising Technologies. “With seamless integration, advanced targeting and real-time measurement capabilities, this product provides consolidated reporting, empowering advertisers to gain critical insight into their video campaign’s impact.”

Freytag adds, “Video has become a mass market, which needs professional ad serving solutions such as our ADTECH Video technology. Rising campaign figures mean efficiency is crucial. We define efficiency as ease of use, open interfaces and the integration of display and video campaigns.”

A granular reporting view makes it easier to identify the right combination of campaign placement for video and display, and measure each component to see what‘s really driving results. Each month, ADTECH serves more than two billion video ads and current customer Tremor Media was cited by ComScore as the top video ad network with a potential reach of 102.8 million viewers.

As with all ADTECH products, customers can expect reliable service and in-depth expert consultation, which are designed to ensure that each customer gains optimum benefit of their online video advertising projects. In addition, ADTECH ‘s video solution is VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) compliant and has been designed to easily adapt to changes in market standards and guidelines. VAST is a standardized template for the online digital video advertising business.

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.

1 comScore Video Metrix data, June 2010

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.

CARLSBAD, Calif. – The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced the winners of its 2009 Sales and Service Excellence Awards. The Sales Awards honor IAB members for outstanding performance and leadership in interactive advertising sales. IAB Service Excellence awards honor outstanding member contributions to IAB industry-related initiatives. The announcement was made during IAB’s third Annual Leadership Meeting, Ecosystem 2.0: Revenue the Next Wave, in Carlsbad, California, where leaders across the digital media landscape have converged to address the most critical issues facing the industry.

“The Sales Excellence awards are based primarily on customer feedback—the very best indicator of outstanding leadership and performance of both individual account executives and sales organizations. The Service Awards recognize individuals who made exceptional contributions to building the interactive advertising industry as a whole. Both awards acknowledge the hard work, dedication and excellence necessary to drive growth in our industry, particularly in such challenging times,” said Sherrill Mane, SVP Industry Services for the IAB. “We congratulate all the winners and celebrate their achievements.”

Sales Excellence Awards

The Sales Excellence Awards, given by the IAB and developed under the auspices of the IAB’s Sales Executive Council in conjunction with The Myers Annual Survey of Advertising Executives, honor outstanding interactive sales organizations and individual account executives. The survey has been asking marketers, agency planners and buyers to evaluate the performance of interactive sales organizations since 2004. The IAB Sales Excellence Awards are based on proprietary questions and analyses of Myers’ database.

2009 Sales Excellence Award Winners include:

Long Term Achievement: Google
Most Innovative: Yahoo!, Inc.
Best Newcomer: Federated Media Publishing
AE of the Year: Kevin Sullivan, Burst Media
AE of the Year Finalists:
David Antonelli, MTV Networks Digital
Mike Chu, ValueClick Media
Ryan Mayward, NBC Universal Digital Media
Ali Van Putten, AOL, Inc.
2009 Service Excellence Awards

Across the IAB’s nearly 400 member companies, 18 IAB councils and committees, and dozens of working groups, hundreds of IAB members participate in shaping the interactive advertising business and driving educational outreach to the marketplace. The IAB Service Excellence Awards honor individual members who have demonstrated strong leadership and provided an exceptional contribution to one or more significant, completed IAB initiative over the past year.

CAMERON CLAYTON, Vice President of Mobile & International, The Weather Channel, for his significant contributions on the IAB Mobile Buyer’s Guide
PETER CONTI, Executive Vice President, Borrell Associates, for his dedication and leadership to the IAB Local Road Show in 2009
RYAN CUNNINGHAM, for his leadership of the Digital Video Player-Ad Interface Definition (VPAID) working group
RICK LANE, Vice President of Government Affairs, News Corp., for his dedication to improving the industry’s policy positioning in Washington, D.C.
JEFF LITVACK, General Manager, Mobile and Emerging Products, The Associated Press, for his significant contributions to the IAB Mobile Buyer’s Guide
MARK LOPEZ, Chief Operating Officer, Terra Networks, for his dedication and leadership as co-chair of the IAB Hispanic Committee
GARY MEO, SVP Print & Digital Media Services, Scarborough Research, for his dedication to and leadership of the IAB Local Road Show in 2009
BILL NIELSEN, Director, Industry Outreach, Microsoft Advertising, for his leadership as part of the IAB’s broader online behavioral advertising self regulatory initiative
ARI PAPARO, Product Director, Advertising Products, Google, for his dedication and leadership to the Video Ad Server Template (VAST) initiative
DON ROSEN, Senior Director, Business & Legal Affairs, Yahoo!, Inc., for his dedication and leadership while part of the Standard Terms and Conditions Taskforce
GARY SCHWARTZ, Chief Executive Officer, Impact Mobile, for his significant contributions to the IAB Mobile Buyer’s Guide and his dedication as co-chair of the IAB Mobile Committee since its inception in 2007
SUZIE WHITE, Corporate Counsel, Transactions, Facebook, for her leadership while part of the Standard Terms and Conditions Taskforce
About the IAB

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 460 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

Joey Trotz, Senior Director, Strategic Advertising Technology at Turner Broadcasting will present and discuss with attendees how ad operations will benefit most from these online video ad initiatives – and what they should be doing now to take advantage.

The importance of getting online video advertising right is growing for marketers and publishers desperate for revenue. While the interest is there from all sides, operationally video advertising has proven to be a real challenge. The entire process is fraught with more complications than standard display ads processes and is weighing down Ad Ops team who are struggling to do more with less. VAST & VPAID has the potential to automate some of these processes. But as marketers and vendors work to adopt these standards, it’s time for Ad Operations teams to start doing a deeper dive into what VAST & VPAID can and can’t do and what they should be doing now to make sure they can benefit. Doing so will generate revenue and create efficiencies marketers and publishers need.

The Online Technical Forum is being sponsored by Auditude. For more information, agenda and registration: http://www.admonsters.org/ws/ws-us-03.php