AnyClip are a video advertising start-up with offices in New York and Jerusalem. Using a combination of Hollywood content deals, a proprietary player and programmatic technology, the company broke into the top ten for the comScore Video Metrix (US) in March of this year. Here Oren Nauman, CEO of AnyClip, explains how the company’s model works, the brand safety and fraud challenges facing the space, and dealing with Hollywood.
Could you explain the AnyClip model and how your technology works?
AnyClip’s model is based upon a foundation of metadata extraction and analysis systems which have enabled us to build out a vast database that powers our distribution network. Reaching up to 200,000 websites per month, our distribution network consistently ranks in the comScore Video Metrix top 15 and targets relevant content to specific websites.
Our intelligent video units sense context and subject matter of the web pages that they are on and transmit that information to our database which, in turn, dynamically curates a custom playlist of premium content from our library. This interaction is monetized by in-stream advertising.
Is most of your inventory bought via RTB or do you also have a network of publishers?
With AnyClip Media’s growing reach we found out that the ideal inventory structure is to have a balanced combination of direct publishers and RTB network. Sometimes we use RTB channels to get direct dedicated campaigns as well.
We believe that in order to get to the proper audience with the right ads there is a need to track web consumption habits. By using this combination tracking RTB and direct publisher campaigns we can better understand and optimize our audience video activities and habits.
Pushing quality content out across exchanges has brand safety implications for not only the advertiser, but the content owner. How do you mitigate those risks?
We are highly sensitive to brand safety issues that have plagued the industry in recent times. Starting from 1×1 iframes, ad clutter and ending in the sophisticated NHT (non human traffic) and ‘suspicious fraudulent activity’.
AnyClip has partnered with leading brand safety companies such as Integral Ad Science, integrating them into our monitoring and reporting system. This provides an additional, objective layer of security on top of our proprietary brand safety technology, making the partnership unique in that it monitors video traffic.
Using this system we are not only alerted in real time to any brand safety issues, we are able to block them and even prevent them from reoccurring in the future.
Content licensing is a notoriously difficult business. What type of content have you managed to secure and where is it typically coming from?
Content licensing is indeed challenging. The Hollywood studios view their content correctly as assets of unequalled value. Digital distribution, especially online, is a risky proposition for them. TV networks are the same, they also have the added issue of competition to take into account. In some cases, TV programs are sponsored by brands and this makes monetization even more complicated. AnyClip has had long standing relationships with Universal Studios and Warner Brothers, which we are very proud of.
In the next few months we will be announcing partnerships with other leading producers of premium content from extreme sports to network television. AnyClip views these relationships as a vital asset and a key to our qualitative edge.
In the developing world of digital advertising it is not enough for media buyers to purchase inventory on websites alone. Advertisers want to know what content their brands are rubbing up against.
So AnyClip offers advertisers the opportunity to know exactly what piece of content follows their advertising and, in some cases, to choose an appropriate clip to extend the moment created by the ads. We believe that this ability to match content to ad, just as our ability to match content to website are distinguishing features that enable AnyClip to stand out from the crowd.
Do publishers receive higher CPMs than they would for serving standard display ads?
A publisher serving video advertising can expect up to 5x the revenue they would typically receive from display advertising. If they integrate a large player this number can go up by a multiple.
