Highlights:
— Currently one of world’s largest private video advertising technology providers
— 50% of dollars now coming from television buying groups
— International operations nearly triple from 2013 to 2014
Videology – one of the world’s largest video advertising technology platforms – today announced escalating growth in the digital video sector, with 2014 revenue on track to approach $300 million, up from $135.5 million in 2012. Videology to date has raised $130 million in venture capital funding, and is one of the few private video technology firms in the market.
“This past year has been a pivotal one for our company as both video and programmatic buying have begun to mature,” said Scott Ferber, Videology Chairman and CEO. “Major brands have begun utilizing programmatic as a core media buying strategy, which has put upward pressure on both agencies and media companies to fully embrace these technologies. Add to this the massive changes in consumer viewing habits, and you have almost a perfect trifecta of opportunity for a technology provider like Videology.”
A Programmatic Ad Technology Platform
Videology is an enterprise software technology company, with research and development (R&D) at the core of its business. As the programmatic marketplace evolved over the past few years, more media agencies, advertisers, and media companies have discovered the value of bringing a self-service programmatic platform in-house. Over 80% of Videology’s business now comes from platform clients consisting of advertising agencies, trading desks, and media companies, such as cyber communications inc., Havas, Publicis, Yahoo! JAPAN, and WPP.
Currently less than 20% of Videology’s business comes from what could be classified as traditional network business, defined as aggregating inventory from publishers, packaging it according to an advertiser’s requested target, and reselling it to agencies one campaign at a time. According to Ferber, that percentage will be closer to zero in the near future.
“As someone who built Advertising.com, one of the largest ad networks in the world, I can tell you that what we’re doing is fundamentally different,” said Ferber. “The irony of being thought of as an ad network is that our software allows advertisers and media companies to build their own media networks, rendering traditional ad networks obsolete. We’re actually the antithesis of an ad network.”
Opportunities from Television and Video Convergence
Today, greater than 50% of Videology’s revenue currently comes from television-centric buying groups, rather than digital buyers. Similarly, 90% of the campaigns run through its platform are sold on a guaranteed cost per thousand (CPM) basis, rather than on a digitally-focused, dynamic CPM basis, thus mimicking the way that television is planned and purchased. This is a key differentiator for Videology’s technology, as it was purpose built to bring automation and addressability to linear television, rather than originating as a display technology that was retrofitted for the TV space.
“Television-centric brand advertisers need certainty in their campaign planning. We built our technology with their needs in mind. While exchange-centric, RTB technologies work well in certain scenarios, they haven’t proven to work for the largest brand advertisers who demand a guaranteed level of impressions to run on specific inventory during a given time period at a given cost. Holistic cross-screen planning demands the same certainty guaranteed by television across all screens,” Ferber explained.
Earlier this year, Videology announced a first-of-its-kind, direct integration of Nielsen TV data into its platform, offering advertisers a unified solution for cross-screen planning, buying and measurement across linear television and online video. In Q2 2014, Videology saw a significant increase in the use of cross-screen TV and video performance analyses, comprising 28% of all campaigns using advanced measurement (others included brand lift, action impact and offline sales metrics).
International Growth
International markets outside of the U.S. are also a huge growth driver with more than 50% of Videology’s total revenue coming from international markets across North America, Europe and the APAC region. Currently, Videology operates in 28 countries, up from three countries (U.S., UK and Canada) in 2011, and 10 countries in 2013.
Agnostic Integrators
A large portion of Videology’s growth hinges upon its deep integrations with data providers, publishers, third-party demand sources and other technology providers.
Videology is integrated with almost 50% of the companies listed in the latest video LUMAscape, a positive indicator that sets Videology’s technology apart as an agnostic unifier within a very fragmented ecosystem. As Ferber pointed out, “I hear a lot of talk about whether or not an advertising technology provider should play on multiple sides of the demand and supply chain. In my opinion, there are no sides in technology. Technology is an enabler-our clients decide how to use it, and how and with whom to do business. Our job is simply to make it easier-and possible.”
In the past 12 months, over 1,330 advertisers ran 17.7 billion video advertising impressions on Videology’s platform across online, mobile and connected TV. This level of volume translates into a three-year revenue CAGR of over 100%.
About Videology
Videology is one of the world’s largest video advertising technology platforms. By simplifying big data, we empower marketers and media companies to make smarter advertising decisions to fully harness the value of their audience across screens. Our math and science-based technology enables our customers to manage, measure and optimize digital video and TV advertising to achieve the best results in the converging media landscape.
Videology, Inc., is a privately-held, venture-backed company, whose investors include Catalyst Investors, Comcast Ventures, NEA, Pinnacle Ventures, and Valhalla Partners. Videology is headquartered in New York, with key offices in Baltimore, Austin, Toronto, London, Paris, Madrid, Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney and sales teams across North America.
