entertainment site Heavy.com has launched an ad network named Husky.
To set itself apart from other ad networks flooding the market, Husky
is targeting Heavy's core demographic of young men and specializing
initially in "skins"--a branded ad format that wraps around a site's
video player, and arguably interferes less with a consumer's viewing
experience than pre-roll advertising.
Heavy is in discussions with about 25 medium-sized publishers, which
would give its network an aggregate audience of 50-60 million unique
monthly visitors, according to company co-CEO Simon Assaad. (That
doesn't include Heavy-owned sites, including a sports site due this
fall to be dubbed Burly Sports.)
"We are starting to build out channels," Assaad explained. "Like in
the area of action sports: It's hard for advertisers to find a large
volume of those guys anywhere. So, if we can put together a bunch of
those sites with one to two hundred thousand visitors each, that would
make a great audience."
One the Husky's first major sponsors is New Line, which is using the
network to promote films this fall. Other advertisers include Coors,
Nissan, Panasonic, Diesel, Axe, Sony and Nike. CPM Rates for the skins
are between $10 and $20, according to Assaad.
The Husky Network wraps any video player--YouTube, Revver or Google,
just to name three--with a branded ad. Husky also hopes to lure
advertisers with the ability to access specific psychographics,
including vertical networks covering such areas as music, gossip-
entertainment and action sports.
Despite Heavy's confidence in video skins, Assaad insisted the skins
are just the beginning.
"We'll be experimenting with all different types of ad formats," he
said. "But we've been testing skins for three years, and we know
they're very effective."
At the beginning of the year, Heavy received $20 million in capital
funding, largely from Polaris Venture Partners, to expand beyond
bloopers into sports and other areas.
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