Acquistions, raises, new hires and rebrands — here’s what happened this week in video advertising. For a weekly summary of industry news and other VAN content, sign up to the weekly Video Round-Up.
Shazam Raises $30 Million, Valuing the Company at Over $1 Billion
Shazam today announced yesterday that it has closed a $30 million investment valuing the company at over $1 billion. The funding will support Shazam’s continued evolution and rapid growth following a year of user milestones, increased service capabilities and expansion into new market sectors.
Shazam also published some stats highlighting how the product is evolving:
- Shazam crossed 100 million monthly active mobile users
- Added extensive music content, integrated with the world’s leading streaming music providers with the ability to play music within the Shazam app via Spotify and Rdio.
- Shazam is now integrated into TV shows and commercials, movie theatres, retail environments, radio content and ads and out of home advertising
- Announced new capabilities to Shazam using the camera for print ads, QR codes, packaged goods and barcodes
- Announced capabilities to recognise beacons
Dailymotion Goes After Twitch with Gaming
Twitter Considering Autoplay Preview Model for Video
Twitter are reportedly considering making promoted videos automatically play six-second previews when they pop up in people’s feeds, reports Ad Age. If the autoplay previews were to catch someone’s eye, that person could click to watch the full video.
Facebook Acquired Quickfire Networks, a Video Compression Company
In the Facebook acquired Quickfire Networks, San Diego-based video compression company. Quickfire’s T3 technology converts video formats and enables them to be streamed more efficiently by reducing the bandwidth needed to view video online, but without degrading the quality of the video.
Sky Adsmart to Be Rolled Out Across VOD and Offered to Broadcasters
Clearleap to Power VOD Distribution for A+E Networks®
Clearleap, a provider of multiscreen video solutions for the TV industry, announced a new partnership with A+E Networks. The deal enables on-demand access to A+E Networks’ premium content across its brands, including A&E, HISTORY, Lifetime, FYI, LMN and H2.
Meetrics
Meetrics, a company that maximizes the viewability of online ads, has been granted accreditation by the U.S.-based Media Rating Council (MRC) for its Viewable Ad Impression measurement in its Ad Attention Monitor product, for both display and video ads. Meetrics say the accreditation is a first for a European company in the US market.
New Hires at Forensiq
