YuMe Launches New Video Ad Formats

Video startup YuMe Networks released a set of new products Monday
aimed at providing sponsors a range of options in the wide open online
advertising space.

"Our opinion is it's highly doubtful that just one ad format is going
to be right for video," said Jayant Kadambi, CEO of Redwood City-based
YuMe. "Watching a two minute trailer on mobile you're not going to
want the same ad as watching it on television."

With ad dollars moving online and the popularity of online video
skyrocketing, marketers are increasingly interested in the space.
Online video ad spending is expected to rise from an estimated $775
million this year to $4.3 billion in 2011. (See "The Web-Video Ad
Puzzle.")

Typical Internet video ads run as "pre-roll" clips, akin to television
commercials, but many viewers consider them an annoying interruption
that they must endure in order to watch their selected clips. As a
result, a growing number of companies are developing new ways of
advertising in, on and around online videos.

A wide range of companies are experimenting with ads such as logos
that don't necessarily interrupt the video unless a user clicks on it.
These are known as overlays, bugs, or tickers. One such new YuMe
product is an "interactive overlay," which places branded items, such
as a small car driving on the bottom of the video that can be clicked
to go to a web site.

Other new YuMe products include a customizable video ad, which can
change the pricing on-the-fly and also change the retail partner—for
example from Best Buy to Circuit City—depending on the viewer's
geography, demographics, and whether the ad is served on a PC, mobile,
or TV.

The wide range of options allow for ads to be delivered across a
variety of platforms—television, computer, or mobile device—which all
have vastly different screen sizes.

Finding a way to more smoothly integrate ads into videos is one
objective of marketers. One new YuMe product overlays a "watermark" of
a brand over video content. For example, on a trailer for the movie
Spiderman, you could have a Blockbuster logo with information on
renting or buying.

Another new YuMe option is a branded player—known as a "skin"—which
wraps branding around video content. Other companies including video
site Heavy.com and WPP's Ogilvy Interactive have also used skins.

To take advantage of the viral, user-generated content craze, another
new YuMe product allows users to customize an ad. In one demo, a user
can create a greeting card from Hallmark and customize it directly in
the video player.

Other new video ad formats include San Francisco-based VideoEgg's
"crawl," which resembles the news ticker on the bottom of the video.

YuMe, backed by Kholsa Ventures, Accel Partners, and BV Capital,
streams over 100 million videos per month, Mr. Kadambi said.

The company focuses on the so-called "middle" part of the online video
market, targeting the clean professionally-produced content—though not
necessarily the most expensive television broadcast content. YuME
allows advertisers to choose specific "channels"—such as sports or
entertainment—of content to place their ads on.